Antibiotics from neglected bacterial sources

• Published in: International journal of medical microbiology Vol. 304; no. 1; pp. 14 - 22
• Main Authors: Pidot, Sacha J, Coyne, Sébastien, Kloss, Florian, Hertweck, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Elsevier GmbH 01-01-2014
• Subjects: Anti-Infective Agents - isolation & purification; Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use; Bacteria; Biological Products - isolation & purification; Biological Products - pharmacology; Biological Products - therapeutic use; Burkholderia; Burkholderia - chemistry; Burkholderia - genetics; Clostridium; Clostridium - chemistry; Clostridium - genetics; Drug Discovery - trends; Gammaproteobacteria - chemistry; Gammaproteobacteria - genetics; Genome mining; Infectious Disease; Lysobacter; Medical Education; Pantoea; Xenorhabdus; Clostridium; Pantoea; Xenorhabdus; Burkholderia; Lysobacter; Genome mining
• ISSN: 1438-4221; 1618-0607
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2013.08.011

Abstract The current crop of antibiotics in clinical use are either natural products or their derivatives. However, the rise of a multitude of different antibiotic resistant human pathogens has meant that new antibiotics are urgently needed. Unfortunately, the search for new antibiotics from traditional bacterial sources often results in a high rediscovery rate of known compounds and a low chance of identifying truly novel chemical entities. To overcome this, previously unexplored (or under investigated) bacterial sources are being tapped for their potential to produce novel compounds with new activities. Here, we review a number of antibiotic compounds identified from bacteria of the genera Burkholderia , Clostridium , Lysobacter , Pantoea and Xenorhabdus and describe the potential of organisms and their associated metabolites in future drug discovery efforts.