AUTHOR=Defraine Valerie , Liebens Veerle , Loos Evelien , Swings Toon , Weytjens Bram , Fierro Carolina , Marchal Kathleen , Sharkey Liam , O’Neill Alex J. , Corbau Romu , Marchand Arnaud , Chaltin Patrick , Fauvart Maarten , Michiels Jan TITLE=1-((2,4-Dichlorophenethyl)Amino)-3-Phenoxypropan-2-ol Kills Pseudomonas aeruginosa through Extensive Membrane Damage JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00129 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.00129 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
The ever increasing multidrug-resistance of clinically important pathogens and the lack of novel antibiotics have resulted in a true antibiotic crisis where many antibiotics are no longer effective. Further complicating the treatment of bacterial infections are antibiotic-tolerant persister cells. Besides being responsible for the recalcitrant nature of chronic infections, persister cells greatly contribute to the observed antibiotic tolerance in biofilms and even facilitate the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Evidently, eradication of these persister cells could greatly improve patient outcomes and targeting persistence may provide an alternative approach in combatting chronic infections. We recently characterized 1-((2,4-dichlorophenethyl)amino)-3-phenoxypropan-2-ol (SPI009), a novel anti-persister molecule capable of directly killing persisters from both Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. SPI009 potentiates antibiotic activity in several