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Antibiotics: Precious Goods in Changing Times

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Antibiotics

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1520))

Abstract

Antibiotics represent a first line of defense of diverse microorganisms, which produce and use antibiotics to counteract natural enemies or competitors for nutritional resources in their nearby environment. For antimicrobial activity, nature has invented a great variety of mechanisms of antibiotic action that involve the perturbation of essential bacterial structures or biosynthesis pathways of macromolecules such as the bacterial cell wall, DNA, RNA, or proteins, thereby threatening the specific microbial lifestyle and eventually even survival. However, along with highly inventive modes of antibiotic action, nature also developed a comparable set of resistance mechanisms that help the bacteria to circumvent antibiotic action. Microorganisms have evolved specific adaptive responses that allow appropriately reacting to the presence of antimicrobial agents, ensuring survival during antimicrobial stress. In times of rapid development and spread of antibiotic (multi-)resistance, we need to explore new, resistance-breaking strategies to counteract bacterial infections. This chapter intends to give an overview of common antibiotics and their target pathways. It will also discuss recent advances in finding new antibiotics with novel modes of action, illustrating that nature’s repertoire of innovative new antimicrobial agents has not been fully exploited yet, and we still might find new drugs that help to evade established antimicrobial resistance strategies.

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Acknowledgment

The author appreciates financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG; SFB 766). I gratefully thank Anne Berscheid, Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt (University of Tuebingen), Gabriele Bierbaum, and Hans-Georg Sahl (University of Bonn) for their continuous support and helpful discussions.

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Sass, P. (2017). Antibiotics: Precious Goods in Changing Times. In: Sass, P. (eds) Antibiotics. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1520. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6634-9_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6634-9_1

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