title: Controlling bacterial infections by inhibiting proton-dependent processes.
abstract: Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is recognized as one of the greatest threats in modern healthcare, taking a staggering toll worldwide. New approaches for controlling bacterial infections must be designed, eventually combining multiple strategies for complimentary therapies. This review explores an old/new paradigm for multi-targeted antibacterial therapy, focused at disturbing bacterial cytoplasmic membrane functions at sub minimal inhibitory concentrations, namely through superficial physical alterations of the bilayer, thereby perturbing transmembrane signals transduction. Such a paradigm may have the advantage of fighting the infection while avoiding many of the known resistance mechanisms. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Antimicrobial peptides edited by Karl Lohner and Kai Hilpert.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology & Food Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Galoz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaneti
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology & Food Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Ohad
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Meir
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology & Food Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. Electronic address: amor@tx.technion.ac.il.
authors.forename: Amram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mor
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011522:Protons; D053038:Quorum Sensing / Q000187:drug effects; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D011522:Protons
keywords: Drug resistance; Host defense peptides; Membrane potential; Membrane-active compounds; Oligomers of acylated cations; Signal transduction; Virulence