Antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic bacteria has become a serious public health concern as infections with multi-drug resistant bacteria are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. In a recent publication by Hatosy and Martiny, the diversity of antimicrobial resistance genes in marine systems was explored using functional metagenomics. Work from these authors, as well as other studies of a...

The antimicrobial peptide KLKLLLLLKLK-NH2 was developed based on sapesin B, and synthesized using D-amino acids. Biochemical properties of the D-form and L-form KLKLLLLLKLK-NH2 peptides were compared. In order to limit the effects due to bacterial resistance to proteolysis, antimicrobial activities of the peptides were evaluated after short-term exposure to bacteria. D-form KLKLLLLLKLK-NH2 exhi...

BACKGROUND Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, the most common cause of human gastroenteritis, employs several virulence factors including lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for infection and establishment of disease inside the host. The LPS of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis consists of lipid A, core oligosaccharide and O-antigen (OAg). The OAg consists of repeating units containing different sugar...

The fitness effects of a mutation can depend, sometimes dramatically, on genetic background; this phenomenon is often referred to as "epistasis." Epistasis can have important practical consequences in the context of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). For example, genetic background plays an important role in determining the costs of resistance, and hence in whether resistance will persist in the a...

Tuberculosis is an ongoing threat to global health, especially with the emergence of multi drug-resistant (MDR) and extremely drug-resistant strains that are motivating the search for new treatment strategies. One potential strategy is immunotherapy using Innate Defence Regulator (IDR) peptides that selectively modulate innate immunity, enhancing chemokine induction and cell recruitment while s...

Salmonella enterica is recognized as one of the major food-borne pathogens with more than 2,500 serotypesworldwide. The present study addresses antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidisisolates in Iran. A collection of 151 Salmonella spp. isolates collected from poultry were serotyped toidentify Salmonella Enteritidis. Sixty-one Salmonella Enteritidis were subsequently...

The Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections, held March 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, brought the issue of antimicrobial drug resistance to the forefront. Results of a survey that polled members of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America regarding critical knowledge gaps and research priorities were presented. Respondents reported that 3 of the 5...

As a result of the looming antimicrobial resistance crisis, there is an urgent need for novel treatments. This particularly true hard-to-treat Gram-negative bacteria, as many agents are unable to cross cell membrane gain access interior, and thus elicit therapeutic response. Herein, evidence provided use anionic supramolecular self-associating amphiphiles (SSAs) efficacy enhancers commonly used...