Antimicrobials play a crucial role in the control and treatment of various infectious diseases. The increasingly worrisome problem of emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, however, poses significant challenges to the efficiency of anti-infective treatment. The latest reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other organizations warn that antimicrobial drug resistance becomes a major threat to human health and life. Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), and MDR strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are rapidly increasing. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of deaths caused by drug-resistance bacteria will reach 10 million, more than that caused currently by cancer.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for antimicrobials with new structure and novel mechanism of action to deal with the threat to human health caused by MDR bacteria.
Natural products, especially isolated from extreme environments, could be an important source for developing new antimicrobials. The exploitation of these sources represents an alternative path for finding new treatments against MDR bacterial infections.
This Research Topic welcome contribution in the form of, but not restricted to, original research, review, mini-review and other acceptable formats. The article collection focuses on the following aspect of natural products as countermeasure to antibiotic resistance:
1)Discovery, biosynthesis and metabolic regulation of new natural products with activity against MDR bacteria.
2)Mechanisms of action of new natural products against MDR bacteria.
3)Discovery of new antimicrobial targets and new antimicrobial resistance mechanisms.
Antimicrobials play a crucial role in the control and treatment of various infectious diseases. The increasingly worrisome problem of emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, however, poses significant challenges to the efficiency of anti-infective treatment. The latest reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other organizations warn that antimicrobial drug resistance becomes a major threat to human health and life. Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), and MDR strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are rapidly increasing. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of deaths caused by drug-resistance bacteria will reach 10 million, more than that caused currently by cancer.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for antimicrobials with new structure and novel mechanism of action to deal with the threat to human health caused by MDR bacteria.
Natural products, especially isolated from extreme environments, could be an important source for developing new antimicrobials. The exploitation of these sources represents an alternative path for finding new treatments against MDR bacterial infections.
This Research Topic welcome contribution in the form of, but not restricted to, original research, review, mini-review and other acceptable formats. The article collection focuses on the following aspect of natural products as countermeasure to antibiotic resistance:
1)Discovery, biosynthesis and metabolic regulation of new natural products with activity against MDR bacteria.
2)Mechanisms of action of new natural products against MDR bacteria.
3)Discovery of new antimicrobial targets and new antimicrobial resistance mechanisms.
