title: Expanding role of lipid II as a target for lantibiotics.
abstract: Lipid II is an essential cell-wall precursor required for the growth and replication of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Compounds that use lipid II to selectively target bacterial cells for destruction represent an important class of antibiotics. Clinically, vancomycin is the most important example of an antibiotic that operates in this manner. Despite being considered the 'antibiotic drug of last resort', significant bacterial resistance to vancomycin now manifests itself worldwide. In this paper we review recent progress made in understanding the lipid II-associated antibacterial characteristics of various naturally occurring compounds, with particular focus on the lantibiotic peptides.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University, Department of Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands. n.i.martin@uu.nl
authors.forename: Nathaniel I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Eefjan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Breukink
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014538:Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylmuramic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001430:Bacteriocins; D014538:Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylmuramic Acid; C069249:muramyl-NAc-(pentapeptide)pyrophosphoryl-undecaprenol; D014640:Vancomycin