scholarly journals Microbial adaptation to venom is common in snakes and spiders

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Esmaeilishirazifard ◽  
L. Usher ◽  
C. Trim ◽  
H. Denise ◽  
V. Sangal ◽  
...  

AbstractAnimal venoms are considered sterile sources of antimicrobial compounds with strong membrane disrupting activity against multi-drug resistant bacteria. However, bite wound infections are common in developing nations. Investigating the oral and venom microbiome of five snake and two spider species, we evidence viable microorganisms potentially unique to venom for black-necked spitting cobras (Naja nigricollis). Among these are two novel sequence types ofEnterococcus faecalismisidentified by commonly used clinical biochemistry procedures asStaphylococcus; the genome sequence data of venom-specific isolates feature an additional 45 genes, at least 11 of which improve membrane integrity. Our findings challenge the dogma of venom sterility and indicate an increased primary infection risk in the clinical management of venomous animal bite wounds.One Sentence SummaryIndependent bacterial colonization of cobra venom drives acquisition of genes antagonistic to venom antimicrobial peptides.

Author(s):  
E.A. Martis ◽  
G M Doshi ◽  
G V Aggarwal ◽  
P P Shanbhag

With the emergence of newer diseases, resistant forms of infectious diseases and multi-drug resistant bacteria, it has become essential to develop novel and more effective antibiotics. Current antibiotics are obtained from terrestrial life or made synthetically from intermediates. The ocean represents virtually untapped resource from which novel antibiotic compounds can be discovered. It is the marine world that will provide the pharmaceutical industry with the next generation of antibiotics. Marine antibiotics are antibiotics obtained from marine organisms. Scientists have reported the discovery of various antibiotics from marine bacteria (aplasmomycin, himalomycins, and pelagiomycins), sponges (Ara C, variabillin, strobilin, ircinin-1, aeroplysin, 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxyphenylacetamide), coelenterates (asperidol and eunicin), mollusks (laurinterol and pachydictyol), tunicates (geranylhydroquinone and cystadytins), algae (cycloeudesmol, aeroplysinin-1(+), prepacifenol and tetrabromoheptanone), worms (tholepin and 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybezaldehyde), and actinomycetes (marinomycins C and D). This indicates that the marine environment, representing approximately half of the global diversity, is an enormous resource for new antibiotics and this source needs to be explored for the discovery of new generation antibiotics. The present article provides an overview of various antibiotics obtained from marine sources.


Author(s):  
Daniel Berman

How can we prevent the rise of resistance to antibiotics? In this video, Daniel Berman,  Nesta Challenges, discusses the global threat of AMR and how prizes like the Longitude Prize can foster the development of rapid diagnostic tests for bacterial infections, helping to contribute towards reducing the global threat of drug resistant bacteria. Daniel outlines how accelerating the development of rapid point-of-care tests will ensure that bacterial infections are treated with the most appropriate antibiotic, at the right time and in the right healthcare setting.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Urszula Kosikowska ◽  
Monika Wujec ◽  
Nazar Trotsko ◽  
Wojciech Płonka ◽  
Piotr Paneth ◽  
...  

The development of drug-resistant bacteria is currently one of the major challenges in medicine. Therefore, the discovery of novel lead structures for the design of antibacterial drugs is urgently needed. In this structure–activity relationship study, a library of ortho-, meta-, and para-fluorobenzoylthiosemicarbazides, and their cyclic analogues with 1,2,4-triazole scaffold, was created and tested for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria strains. While all tested 1,2,4-triazoles were devoid of potent activity, the antibacterial response of the thiosemicarbazides was highly dependent on substitution pattern at the N4 aryl position. The optimum activity for these compounds was found for trifluoromethyl derivatives such as 15a, 15b, and 16b, which were active against both the reference strains panel, and pathogenic methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates at minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 7.82 to 31.25 μg/mL. Based on the binding affinities obtained from docking, the conclusion can be reached that fluorobenzoylthiosemicarbazides can be considered as potential allosteric d-alanyl-d-alanine ligase inhibitors.


Author(s):  
Ryunosuke Hakuta ◽  
Yousuke Nakai ◽  
Tsuyoshi Hamada ◽  
Yusuke Nomura ◽  
Tomotaka Saito ◽  
...  

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1141
Author(s):  
Noha M. Elhosseiny ◽  
Tamer M. Samir ◽  
Aliaa A. Ali ◽  
Amani A. El-Kholy ◽  
Ahmed S. Attia

Neonatal sepsis is a leading cause of death among newborns and infants, especially in the developing world. The problem is compounded by the delays in pinpointing the causative agent of the infection. This is reflected in increasing mortality associated with these cases and the spread of multi-drug-resistant bacteria. In this work, we deployed bioinformatics and proteomics analyses to determine a promising target that could be used for the identification of a major neonatal sepsis causative agent, Klebsiella pneumoniae. A 19 amino acid peptide from a hypothetical outer membrane was found to be very specific to the species, well conserved among its strains, surface exposed, and expressed in conditions simulating infection. Antibodies against the selected peptide were conjugated to gold nanoparticles and incorporated into an immunochromatographic strip. The developed strip was able to detect as low as 105 CFU/mL of K. pneumoniae. Regarding specificity, it showed negative results with both Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae. More importantly, in a pilot study using neonatal sepsis cases blood specimens, the developed strip selectively gave positive results within 20 min with those infected with K. pneumoniae without prior sample processing. However, it gave negative results in cases infected with other bacterial species.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 321
Author(s):  
Shekh Sabir ◽  
Tsz Tin Yu ◽  
Rajesh Kuppusamy ◽  
Basmah Almohaywi ◽  
George Iskander ◽  
...  

The quorum sensing (QS) system in multi-drug-resistant bacteria such as P. aeruginosa is primarily responsible for the development of antibiotic resistance and is considered an attractive target for antimicrobial drug discovery. In this study, we synthesised a series of novel selenourea and thiourea-containing dihydropyrrol-2-one (DHP) analogues as LasR antagonists. The selenium DHP derivatives displayed significantly better quorum-sensing inhibition (QSI) activities than the corresponding sulphur analogues. The most potent analogue 3e efficiently inhibited the las QS system by 81% at 125 µM and 53% at 31 µM. Additionally, all the compounds were screened for their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the Gram-positive bacterium S. aureus, and interestingly, only the selenium analogues showed antibacterial activity, with 3c and 3e being the most potent with a MIC of 15.6 µM.


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