Glycopeptides and bacterial cell walls

Santos-Beneit, F; Martín, JF; Barreiro, C

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40444-3_11

Glycopeptides and bacterial cell walls

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Fernando Santos Beneit

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.

Abstract

The discovery of antibiotics prompted a new era in the treatment of microbial infections. However, from the very beginning of antibiotic utilization, bacterial resistance to these compounds also emerged. Thus, the resistance to penicillin was reported only 1 year after its adoption in clinic and the same process has been reported later with other important drugs. In contrast, glycopeptide antibiotics have been an intriguing exception during a long period of time, which led to their adoption as drugs of last resort treatments. Enterococci strains presented resistance to vancomycin, which is the most important member of this class of antibiotics, in 1987, many years after its introduction in clinic in 1958. Later, this resistance was also spread to important pathogens like ‘methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus’ (MRSA). In this chapter, we will focus on the origin of glycopeptides in the context of the antibiotic discovery, the structure, biochemistry, regulation, and action mechanism of these compounds, as well as the resistance appearing especially in the producer and nonproducer Streptomyces spp. Besides, a special attention is paid to the cell wall modifications, which leads to the glycopeptide resistance. New trends in semisynthetic glycopeptides production are also reviewed