title: Bacterial conjugation-based antimicrobial agents.
abstract: A clear imperative exists to generate radically different antibacterial technologies that will reduce the usage of conventional chemical antibiotics. Here we trace one route into this new frontier of drug discovery, a concept that we call the bacterial conjugation-based technologies (BCBT). One of the objectives of the BCBT is to exploit plasmid biology for combating the rising tide of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Specifically, the concept utilizes conjugationally delivered plasmids as antimicrobial agents, and it builds on the accumulated work of many scientists dating back to the discoveries of conjugation and plasmids themselves. Each of the individual components that comprise the approach has been demonstrated to be feasible. We discuss the properties of bacterial plasmids to be employed in BCBT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Microbial Sciences Building, 1550 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706, USA. msfiluto@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Filutowicz
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Gamelli
authors.forename: Jack A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Heinemann
authors.forename: Brigitta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kurenbach
authors.forename: Sheryl A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rakowski
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shankar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010957:Plasmids / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents