Drugs against superbugs: private lessons from bacteriophages.
Bacterial genomics has provided a plethora of potential targets for antibacterial drug discovery, however, success in the hunt for new antibiotics will hinge on selecting targets with the highest potential. A recent paper by Liu and coworkers describes a new approach to target selection that uncovers strategies used by bacteriophage to disable bacteria. The method uses key phage proteins to identify and validate vulnerable targets and exploits them further in the identification of new antibacterial leads.
Brown
Eric D
ED
Department of Biochemistry, McMaster University, 1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8N 3Z5, Canada. ebrown@mcmaster.ca
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000187:drug effects; D013204:Staphylococcus Phages / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins