The Application of Nucleic Acids and Nucleic Acid Materials in Antimicrobial Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Sun ◽  
Lingxian Meng ◽  
Yuxin Zhang ◽  
Dan Zhao ◽  
Yunfeng Lin

Due to the misuse of antibiotics, multiple drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria have increasingly emerged. This has increased the difficulty of treatment as these bacteria directly affect public health by diminishing the potency of existing antibiotics. Developing alternative therapeutic strategies is the urgent need to reduce the mortality and morbidity related to drug-resistant bacterial infections. In the past 10 to 20 years, nanomedicines have been widely studied and applied as an antibacterial agent. They have become a novel tool for fighting resistant bacteria. The most common innovative substances, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs), have been widely reported. Until recently, DNA nanostructures were used alone or functionalized with specific DNA sequences by many scholars for antimicrobial purposes which were alternatively selected as therapy for severe bacterial infections. These are a potential candidate for treatments and have a considerable role in killing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This review involves the dimensions of multidrug resistance and the mechanism of bacteria developing drug resistance. The importance of this article is that we summarized the current study of nano-materials based on nucleic acids in antimicrobial use. Meanwhile, the current progress and the present obstacles for their antibacterial and therapeutic use and special function of stem cells in this field are also discussed.

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junaid Iqbal ◽  
Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui ◽  
Shahana Urooj Kazmi ◽  
Naveed Ahmed Khan

Antibiotic resistance continues to pose a significant problem in the management of bacterial infections, despite advances in antimicrobial chemotherapy and supportive care. Here, we suggest a simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-perform assay to screen antimicrobial compounds from natural products or synthetic chemical libraries for their potential to work in tandem with the available antibiotics against multiple drug-resistant bacteria. The aqueous extract ofJuglans regiatree bark was tested against representative multiple drug-resistant bacteria in the aforementioned assay to determine whether it potentiates the activity of selected antibiotics. The aqueous extract ofJ. regiabark was added to Mueller-Hinton agar, followed by a lawn of multiple drug-resistant bacteria,Salmonella typhior enteropathogenicE. coli. Next, filter paper discs impregnated with different classes of antibiotics were placed on the agar surface. Bacteria incubated with extract or antibiotics alone were used as controls. The results showed a significant increase (>30%) in the zone of inhibition around the aztreonam, cefuroxime, and ampicillin discs compared with bacteria incubated with the antibiotics/extract alone. In conclusion, our assay is able to detect either synergistic or additive action ofJ. regiaextract against multiple drug-resistant bacteria when tested with a range of antibiotics.


Author(s):  
Roja Rani Pallavali ◽  
Vijaya Lakshmi Degati ◽  
Vijaya Raghava Prasad Durbaka

Lytic bacteriophages have the efficacy to act and eradicate pathogenic bacteria as an attractive tool in the near future. Bacteriophages specifically kill multidrug-resistant bacteria even which have the capacity to form biofilms. The present review mainly focused on the efficacy of bacteriophages and cocktails as therapeutic agents against predominate MDR-bacteria and their biofilms which are isolated from septic wound infections. The body of evidence includes data from studies investigating bacteriophages from sewage samples as novel antibacterial and antibiofilm agents against pathogenic bacteria. The goal of this review is to present an overview on predominant bacteria from septic wound infection, the biofilm-forming capacity of bacteria, lytic effect of bacteriophages and phage cocktails with an emphasis on the application of bacteriophages against septic wound causing bacteria.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibhghatulla Shaikh ◽  
Nazia Nazam ◽  
Syed Mohd Danish Rizvi ◽  
Khurshid Ahmad ◽  
Mohammad Hassan Baig ◽  
...  

Multiple drug-resistant bacteria are a severe and growing public health concern. Because relatively few antibiotics have been approved over recent years and because of the inability of existing antibiotics to combat bacterial infections fully, demand for unconventional biocides is intense. Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) offer a novel potential means of fighting bacteria. Although metallic NPs exert their effects through membrane protein damage, superoxide radicals and the generation of ions that interfere with the cell granules leading to the formation of condensed particles, their antimicrobial potential, and mechanisms of action are still debated. This article discusses the action of metallic NPs as antibacterial agents, their mechanism of action, and their effect on bacterial drug resistance. Based on encouraging data about the antibacterial effects of NP/antibiotic combinations, we propose that this concept be thoroughly researched to identify means of combating drug-resistant bacteria.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Adam Stewart ◽  
Hugh Wright ◽  
Krispin Hajkowicz

Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to the delivery of effective care and already causes 700000 excess deaths per year worldwide. International consensus on action to combat antimicrobial resistance was reached in 2015. Australia is implementing a national strategy. The clinical consequences of antimicrobial resistance are seen most acutely in multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections, where they cause increased mortality and morbidity and threaten the delivery of once routine medical care. The solution to antimicrobial resistance is complex and multifaceted. Antimicrobial stewardship, that is optimising the use of the antibiotics we currently have, is the most rapidly deployable mitigation. Several novel antibiotics with activity against a range of drug-resistant bacteria are now available clinically, leading to hope that innovative solutions will reduce the impact of resistance. It is critical that these new drugs are protected from inappropriate use.


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.


1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 2006-2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoichi Hirakata ◽  
Koichi Izumikawa ◽  
Toshiyuki Yamaguchi ◽  
Hiromu Takemura ◽  
Hironori Tanaka ◽  
...  

Gram-negative rods (GNR) carrying the transferable carbapenem resistance gene blaIMP, includingPseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens, have been isolated from more than 20 hospitals in Japan. Although the emergence of such multiple-drug-resistant bacteria is of utmost clinical concern, little information in regard to the distribution ofblaIMP-positive GNR in hospitals and the clinical characteristics of infected patients is available. To address this, a system for the rapid detection of theblaIMP gene with a simple DNA preparation and by enzymatic detection of PCR products was developed. A total of 933 ceftazidime-resistant strains of GNR isolated between 1991 and 1996 at Nagasaki University Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan, were screened for theblaIMP gene; 80 isolates were positive, including 53 P. aeruginosa isolates, 13 other glucose-nonfermenting bacteria, 13 S. marcescens isolates, and 1 Citrobacter freundii isolate. Most of the patients from whom blaIMP-positive organisms were isolated had malignant diseases (53.8%). The organisms caused urinary tract infections, pneumonia, or other infections in 46.3% of the patients, while they were just colonizing the other patients evaluated. It was possible that blaIMP-positive P. aeruginosa strains contributed to the death of four patients, while the other infections caused by GNR carryingblaIMP were not lethal. DNA fingerprinting analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis suggested the cross transmission of strains within the hospital. The isolates were ceftazidime resistant and were frequently resistant to other antibiotics. Although no particular means of pathogenesis ofblaIMP-positive GNR is evident at present, the rapid detection of such strains is necessary to help with infection control practices for the prevention of their dissemination and the transmission of the resistance gene to other pathogenic bacteria.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 865-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman El-Shibiny ◽  
Salma El-Sahhar

Since their discovery in 1915, bacteriophages have been used to treat bacterial infections in animals and humans because of their unique ability to infect their specific bacterial hosts without affecting other bacterial populations. The research carried out in this field throughout the 20th century, largely in Georgia, part of USSR and Poland, led to the establishment of phage therapy protocols. However, the discovery of penicillin and sulfonamide antibiotics in the Western World during the 1930s was a setback in the advancement of phage therapy. The misuse of antibiotics has reduced their efficacy in controlling pathogens and has led to an increase in the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. As an alternative to antibiotics, bacteriophages have become a topic of interest with the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which are a threat to public health. Recent studies have indicated that bacteriophages can be used indirectly to detect pathogenic bacteria or directly as biocontrol agents. Moreover, they can be used to develop new molecules for clinical applications, vaccine production, drug design, and in the nanomedicine field via phage display.


Nanoscale ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa Ghosh ◽  
Swati Kaushik ◽  
Jijo Thomas ◽  
Vineeta Panwar ◽  
Preethi Murugesan ◽  
...  

The extensive and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic might significantly contribute to the growing number of multiple drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. With the dwindling pipeline of...


Nanomedicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudip Nag ◽  
Arpita Biswas ◽  
Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay ◽  
Maitree Bhattacharyya

Aim: An antibiotic-conjugated protein-stabilized nanoparticle hybrid system was developed to combat the challenges faced during the treatment of drug-resistant bacterial biofilm-associated infections. Materials & methods: Biocompatible silver nanoparticles were synthesized using intracellular protein and gentamycin was attached. The resulting nanohybrid was characterized and its antibacterial efficiency was assessed against Gram-positive, Gram-negative and drug-resistant bacteria. Results: Spectroscopic and electron microscopic analysis revealed that the nanoparticles were spherical with a diameter of 2–6 nm. Red-shifting of the surface plasmon peak and an increase in hydrodynamic diameter confirmed attachment of gentamycin. The nanohybrid exhibited antibacterial efficiency against a range of bacteria with the ability to inhibit and disrupt bacterial biofilm. Conclusion: A unique nanohybrid was designed that has potential to be used to control drug-resistant bacterial infections in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (18) ◽  
pp. 4975-4996
Author(s):  
Pengfei Zou ◽  
Wen-Ting Chen ◽  
Tongyi Sun ◽  
Yuanyuan Gao ◽  
Li-Li Li ◽  
...  

Bacterial infections, especially the refractory treatment of drug-resistant bacteria, are one of the greatest threats to human health. Self-assembling peptide-based strategies can specifically detect the bacteria at the site of infection in the body and kill it.


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