Guzman, Juan D. and Gupta, Antima and Bucar, F. and Gibbons, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2012) Antimycobacterials from natural sources: ancient times, antibiotic era and novel scaffolds. Frontiers in Bioscience 17 (1), pp. 1861-1881. ISSN 1093-9946.
Abstract
Mycobacteria are a group of aerobic, non-motile, acid fast bacteria that have a characteristic cell wall composed of a mycolyl-arabinogalactan-peptidoglycan complex. They display different phenotypic attributes in their growth, color and biochemistry. Tuberculosis (TB) is defined as the infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and was declared a global health emergency principally because of the appearance of multidrug-resistant strains and the associated risk of infection in immune-compromised population. There is an urgent clinical need for novel, potent and safe anti-TB drugs. Natural products have been used since antiquity for treating diverse complaints and novel pharmacophores are discovered every year. Two of the most potent used antimycobacterials, the rifamycins and streptomycin, were first detected in Streptomyces bacteria. Plants are also the source of an exquisite variety of antimicrobials that can lead to useful therapeutics in the future. In this review, natural preparations used since antiquity for treating tuberculosis are described, together with a rapid view of the 20th century antibiotic development against TB. Finally a summary of the most potent recent natural antimycobacterials is displayed.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
Research Centres and Institutes: | Structural Molecular Biology, Institute of (ISMB) |
Depositing User: | Administrator |
Date Deposited: | 13 Jan 2012 13:11 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 16:57 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4552 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.