# | Rank | Similarity | Title + Abs. | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 611 | 0 | 0.9840 | The Staphylococcus aureus FASII bypass escape route from FASII inhibitors. Antimicrobials targeting the fatty acid synthesis (FASII) pathway are being developed as alternative treatments for bacterial infections. Emergence of resistance to FASII inhibitors was mainly considered as a consequence of mutations in the FASII target genes. However, an alternative and efficient anti-FASII resistance strategy, called here FASII bypass, was uncovered. Bacteria that bypass FASII incorporate exogenous fatty acids in membrane lipids, and thus dispense with the need for FASII. This strategy is used by numerous Gram-positive low GC % bacteria, including streptococci, enterococci, and staphylococci. Some bacteria repress FASII genes once fatty acids are available, and "constitutively" shift to FASII bypass. Others, such as the major pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, can undergo high frequency mutations that favor FASII bypass. This capacity is particularly relevant during infection, as the host supplies the fatty acids needed for bacteria to bypass FASII and thus become resistant to FASII inhibitors. Screenings for anti-FASII resistance in the presence of exogenous fatty acids confirmed that FASII bypass confers anti-FASII resistance among clinical and veterinary isolates. Polymorphisms in S. aureus FASII initiation enzymes favor FASII bypass, possibly by increasing availability of acyl-carrier protein, a required intermediate. Here we review FASII bypass and consequences in light of proposed uses of anti-FASII to treat infections, with a focus on FASII bypass in S. aureus. | 2017 | 28728970 |
| 9057 | 1 | 0.9822 | ABD-3, the confluence of powerful antibacterial modalities: ABDs delivering and expressing lss, the gene encoding lysostaphin. In response to the antimicrobial resistance crisis, we have developed a powerful and versatile therapeutic platform, the Antibacterial Drone (ABD) system. The ABD consists of a highly mobile staphylococcal pathogenicity island re-purposed to deliver genes encoding antibacterial proteins. The chromosomally located island is induced by a co-resident helper phage, packaged in phage-like particles, and released in very high numbers upon phage-induced lysis. ABD particles specifically adsorb to bacteria causing an infection and deliver their DNA to these bacteria, where the bactericidal cargo genes are expressed, kill the bacteria, and cure the infection. Here, we report a major advance of the system, incorporation of the gene encoding a secreted, bactericidal, species-specific lytic enzyme, lysostsphin. This ABD not only kills the bacterium that has been attacked by the ABD, but also any surrounding bacteria that are sensitive to the lytic enzyme which is released by secretion and by lysis of the doomed cell. So while the killing field is thus expanded, there are no civilian casualties (bacteria that are insensitive to the ABD and its cargo protein(s) are not inadvertently killed). Without amplifying the number of ABD particles (which are not re-packaged), the expression and release of the cargo gene's product dramatically extend the effective reach of the ABD. A cargo gene that encodes a secreted bactericidal protein also enables the treatment of a mixed bacterial infection in which one of the infecting organisms is insensitive to the ABD delivery system but is sensitive to the ABD's secreted cargo protein. | 2024 | 39072634 |
| 9060 | 2 | 0.9821 | Targetable nano-delivery vehicles to deliver anti-bacterial small acid-soluble spore protein (SASP) genes. Interest in phage-based therapeutics is increasing, at least in part due to the need for new treatment options for infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is possible to use wild-type (WT) phages to treat bacterial infections, but it is also possible to modify WT phages to generate therapeutics with improved features. Here, we will discuss features of Phico Therapeutics' SASPject technology, which modifies phages for use as targetable nano-delivery vehicles (NDV), to introduce antibacterial Small Acid Soluble Spore Protein (SASP) genes into specific target bacteria. | 2021 | 34723318 |
| 8185 | 3 | 0.9815 | RNA-cleaving DNAzymes as a diagnostic and therapeutic agent against antimicrobial resistant bacteria. The development of nucleic-acid-based antimicrobials such as RNA-cleaving DNAzyme (RCD), a short catalytically active nucleic acid, is a promising alternative to the current antibiotics. The current rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria renders some antibiotics useless against bacterial infection, thus creating the need for alternative antimicrobials such as DNAzymes. This review summarizes recent advances in the use of RCD as a diagnostic and therapeutic agent against AMR. Firstly, the recent diagnostic application of RCD for the detection of bacterial cells and the associated resistant gene(s) is discussed. The next section summarises the therapeutic application of RCD in AMR bacterial infections which includes direct targeting of the resistant genes and indirect targeting of AMR-associated genes. Finally, this review extends the discussion to challenges of utilizing RCD in real-life applications, and the potential of combining both diagnostic and therapeutic applications of RCD into a single agent as a theranostic agent. | 2022 | 34505182 |
| 3764 | 4 | 0.9813 | Evidence for diversifying selection in a set of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes in response to antibiotic- and nonantibiotic-related pressure. Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health problem estimated to kill 1.4 million people per year. Recent advances in the genomics of the causative agents of TB, bacteria known as the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), have allowed a better comprehension of its population structure and provided the foundation for molecular evolution analyses. These studies are crucial for a better understanding of TB, including the variation of vaccine efficacy and disease outcome, together with the emergence of drug resistance. Starting from the analysis of 73 publicly available genomes from all the main MTBC lineages, we have screened for evidences of positive selection, a set of 576 genes previously associated with drug resistance or encoding membrane proteins. As expected, because antibiotics constitute strong selective pressure, some of the codons identified correspond to the position of confirmed drug-resistance-associated substitutions in the genes embB, rpoB, and katG. Furthermore, we identified diversifying selection in specific codons of the genes Rv0176 and Rv1872c coding for MCE1-associated transmembrane protein and a putative l-lactate dehydrogenase, respectively. Amino acid sequence analyses showed that in Rv0176, sites undergoing diversifying selection were in a predicted antigen region that varies between "modern" lineages and "ancient" MTBC/BCG strains. In Rv1872c, some of the sites under selection are predicted to impact protein function and thus might result from metabolic adaptation. These results illustrate that diversifying selection in MTBC is happening as a consequence of both antibiotic treatment and other evolutionary pressures. | 2013 | 23449927 |
| 8238 | 5 | 0.9813 | Resistance to enediyne antitumor antibiotics by CalC self-sacrifice. Antibiotic self-resistance mechanisms, which include drug elimination, drug modification, target modification, and drug sequestration, contribute substantially to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria. Enediynes are among the most potent naturally occurring antibiotics, yet the mechanism of resistance to these toxins has remained a mystery. We characterize an enediyne self-resistance protein that reveals a self-sacrificing paradigm for resistance to highly reactive antibiotics, and thus another opportunity for nonpathogenic or pathogenic bacteria to evade extremely potent small molecules. | 2003 | 12970566 |
| 9179 | 6 | 0.9812 | A detailed landscape of CRISPR-Cas-mediated plant disease and pest management. Genome editing technology has rapidly evolved to knock-out genes, create targeted genetic variation, install precise insertion/deletion and single nucleotide changes, and perform large-scale alteration. The flexible and multipurpose editing technologies have started playing a substantial role in the field of plant disease management. CRISPR-Cas has reduced many limitations of earlier technologies and emerged as a versatile toolbox for genome manipulation. This review summarizes the phenomenal progress of the use of the CRISPR toolkit in the field of plant pathology. CRISPR-Cas toolbox aids in the basic studies on host-pathogen interaction, in identifying virulence genes in pathogens, deciphering resistance and susceptibility factors in host plants, and engineering host genome for developing resistance. We extensively reviewed the successful genome editing applications for host plant resistance against a wide range of biotic factors, including viruses, fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, nematodes, insect pests, and parasitic plants. Recent use of CRISPR-Cas gene drive to suppress the population of pathogens and pests has also been discussed. Furthermore, we highlight exciting new uses of the CRISPR-Cas system as diagnostic tools, which rapidly detect pathogenic microorganism. This comprehensive yet concise review discusses innumerable strategies to reduce the burden of crop protection. | 2022 | 35835393 |
| 9085 | 7 | 0.9812 | Mode of action and resistance studies unveil new roles for tropodithietic acid as an anticancer agent and the γ-glutamyl cycle as a proton sink. While we have come to appreciate the architectural complexity of microbially synthesized secondary metabolites, far less attention has been paid to linking their structural features with possible modes of action. This is certainly the case with tropodithietic acid (TDA), a broad-spectrum antibiotic generated by marine bacteria that engage in dynamic symbioses with microscopic algae. TDA promotes algal health by killing unwanted marine pathogens; however, its mode of action (MoA) and significance for the survival of an algal-bacterial miniecosystem remains unknown. Using cytological profiling, we herein determine the MoA of TDA and surprisingly find that it acts by a mechanism similar to polyether antibiotics, which are structurally highly divergent. We show that like polyether drugs, TDA collapses the proton motive force by a proton antiport mechanism, in which extracellular protons are exchanged for cytoplasmic cations. The α-carboxy-tropone substructure is ideal for this purpose as the proton can be carried on the carboxyl group, whereas the basicity of the tropylium ion facilitates cation export. Based on similarities to polyether anticancer agents we have further examined TDA's cytotoxicity and find it to exhibit potent, broad-spectrum anticancer activities. These results highlight the power of MoA-profiling technologies in repurposing old drugs for new targets. In addition, we identify an operon that confers TDA resistance to the producing marine bacteria. Bioinformatic and biochemical analyses of these genes lead to a previously unknown metabolic link between TDA/acid resistance and the γ-glutamyl cycle. The implications of this resistance mechanism in the context of the algal-bacterial symbiosis are discussed. | 2016 | 26802120 |
| 9172 | 8 | 0.9810 | These Are the Genes You're Looking For: Finding Host Resistance Genes. Humanity's ongoing struggle with new, re-emerging and endemic infectious diseases serves as a frequent reminder of the need to understand host-pathogen interactions. Recent advances in genomics have dramatically advanced our understanding of how genetics contributes to host resistance or susceptibility to bacterial infection. Here we discuss current trends in defining host-bacterial interactions at the genome-wide level, including screens that harness CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, natural genetic variation, proteomics, and transcriptomics. We report on the merits, limitations, and findings of these innovative screens and discuss their complementary nature. Finally, we speculate on future innovation as we continue to progress through the postgenomic era and towards deeper mechanistic insight and clinical applications. | 2021 | 33004258 |
| 106 | 9 | 0.9810 | Genomic evidence of the illumination response mechanism and evolutionary history of magnetotactic bacteria within the Rhodospirillaceae family. BACKGROUND: Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are ubiquitous in natural aquatic environments. MTB can produce intracellular magnetic particles, navigate along geomagnetic field, and respond to light. However, the potential mechanism by which MTB respond to illumination and their evolutionary relationship with photosynthetic bacteria remain elusive. RESULTS: We utilized genomes of the well-sequenced genus Magnetospirillum, including the newly sequenced MTB strain Magnetospirillum sp. XM-1 to perform a comprehensive genomic comparison with phototrophic bacteria within the family Rhodospirillaceae regarding the illumination response mechanism. First, photoreceptor genes were identified in the genomes of both MTB and phototrophic bacteria in the Rhodospirillaceae family, but no photosynthesis genes were found in the MTB genomes. Most of the photoreceptor genes in the MTB genomes from this family encode phytochrome-domain photoreceptors that likely induce red/far-red light phototaxis. Second, illumination also causes damage within the cell, and in Rhodospirillaceae, both MTB and phototrophic bacteria possess complex but similar sets of response and repair genes, such as oxidative stress response, iron homeostasis and DNA repair system genes. Lastly, phylogenomic analysis showed that MTB cluster closely with phototrophic bacteria in this family. One photoheterotrophic genus, Phaeospirillum, clustered within and displays high genomic similarity with Magnetospirillum. Moreover, the phylogenetic tree topologies of magnetosome synthesis genes in MTB and photosynthesis genes in phototrophic bacteria from the Rhodospirillaceae family were reasonably congruent with the phylogenomic tree, suggesting that these two traits were most likely vertically transferred during the evolution of their lineages. CONCLUSION: Our new genomic data indicate that MTB and phototrophic bacteria within the family Rhodospirillaceae possess diversified photoreceptors that may be responsible for phototaxis. Their genomes also contain comprehensive stress response genes to mediate the negative effects caused by illumination. Based on phylogenetic studies, most of MTB and phototrophic bacteria in the Rhodospirillaceae family evolved vertically with magnetosome synthesis and photosynthesis genes. The ancestor of Rhodospirillaceae was likely a magnetotactic phototrophic bacteria, however, gain or loss of magnetotaxis and phototrophic abilities might have occurred during the evolution of ancestral Rhodospirillaceae lineages. | 2019 | 31117953 |
| 9192 | 10 | 0.9810 | Antimicrobial peptides: Sustainable application informed by evolutionary constraints. The proliferation and global expansion of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria have deepened the need to develop novel antimicrobials. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are regarded as promising antibacterial agents because of their broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and multifaceted mechanisms of action with non-specific targets. However, if AMPs are to be applied sustainably, knowledge of how they induce resistance in pathogenic bacteria must be mastered to avoid repeating the traditional antibiotic resistance mistakes currently faced. Furthermore, the evolutionary constraints on the acquisition of AMP resistance by microorganisms in the natural environment, such as functional compatibility and fitness trade-offs, inform the translational application of AMPs. Consequently, the shortcut to achieve sustainable utilization of AMPs is to uncover the evolutionary constraints of bacteria on AMP resistance in nature and find the tricks to exploit these constraints, such as applying AMP cocktails to minimize the efficacy of selection for resistance or combining nanomaterials to maximize the costs of AMP resistance. Altogether, this review dissects the benefits, challenges, and opportunities of utilizing AMPs against disease-causing bacteria, and highlights the use of AMP cocktails or nanomaterials to proactively address potential AMP resistance crises in the future. | 2022 | 35752270 |
| 8262 | 11 | 0.9810 | Advances in CRISPR-Cas systems for human bacterial disease. Prokaryotic adaptive immune systems called CRISPR-Cas systems have transformed genome editing by allowing for precise genetic alterations through targeted DNA cleavage. This system comprises CRISPR-associated genes and repeat-spacer arrays, which generate RNA molecules that guide the cleavage of invading genetic material. CRISPR-Cas is classified into Class 1 (multi-subunit effectors) and Class 2 (single multi-domain effectors). Its applications span combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR), targeting antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), resensitizing bacteria to antibiotics, and preventing horizontal gene transfer (HGT). CRISPR-Cas3, for example, effectively degrades plasmids carrying resistance genes, providing a precise method to disarm bacteria. In the context of ESKAPE pathogens, CRISPR technology can resensitize bacteria to antibiotics by targeting specific resistance genes. Furthermore, in tuberculosis (TB) research, CRISPR-based tools enhance diagnostic accuracy and facilitate precise genetic modifications for studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis. CRISPR-based diagnostics, leveraging Cas endonucleases' collateral cleavage activity, offer highly sensitive pathogen detection. These advancements underscore CRISPR's transformative potential in addressing AMR and enhancing infectious disease management. | 2024 | 39266183 |
| 9589 | 12 | 0.9809 | Phage Therapy: Going Temperate? Strictly lytic phages have been consensually preferred for phage therapy purposes. In contrast, temperate phages have been avoided due to an inherent capacity to mediate transfer of genes between bacteria by specialized transduction - an event that may increase bacterial virulence, for example, by promoting antibiotic resistance. Now, advances in sequencing technologies and synthetic biology are providing new opportunities to explore the use of temperate phages for therapy against bacterial infections. By doing so we can considerably expand our armamentarium against the escalating threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. | 2019 | 30466900 |
| 9178 | 13 | 0.9809 | Targeting non-multiplying organisms as a way to develop novel antimicrobials. Increasing resistance and decreasing numbers of antibiotics reaching the market point to a growing need for novel antibacterial drugs. Most antibiotics are very inefficient at killing non-multiplying bacteria, which live side by side with multiplying ones of the same strain in a clinical infection. Although non-multiplying bacteria do not usually cause disease, they can revert to the multiplying state that leads to overt disease, at which time resistance can emerge. Here we discuss the concept of developing antibacterial drugs by targeting non-multiplying organisms. We define non-multiplying bacteria, discuss the efficacy of existing antibiotics, and assess whether targeting these bacteria might lead to new antibiotics that will decrease the rate of emergence of resistance. Lastly, we review the potential of new molecular targets and live non-multiplying bacteria as possible routes for the development of novel antimicrobial drugs. | 2008 | 18262665 |
| 8135 | 14 | 0.9808 | Harnessing Genome Editing Techniques to Engineer Disease Resistance in Plants. Modern genome editing (GE) techniques, which include clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and LAGLIDADG homing endonucleases (meganucleases), have so far been used for engineering disease resistance in crops. The use of GE technologies has grown very rapidly in recent years with numerous examples of targeted mutagenesis in crop plants, including gene knockouts, knockdowns, modifications, and the repression and activation of target genes. CRISPR/Cas9 supersedes all other GE techniques including TALENs and ZFNs for editing genes owing to its unprecedented efficiency, relative simplicity and low risk of off-target effects. Broad-spectrum disease resistance has been engineered in crops by GE of either specific host-susceptibility genes (S gene approach), or cleaving DNA of phytopathogens (bacteria, virus or fungi) to inhibit their proliferation. This review focuses on different GE techniques that can potentially be used to boost molecular immunity and resistance against different phytopathogens in crops, ultimately leading to the development of promising disease-resistant crop varieties. | 2019 | 31134108 |
| 9210 | 15 | 0.9808 | Plasmid maintenance systems suitable for GMO-based bacterial vaccines. Live carrier-based bacterial vaccines represent a vaccine strategy that offers exceptional flexibility. Commensal or attenuated strains of pathogenic bacteria can be used as live carriers to present foreign antigens from unrelated pathogens to the immune system, with the aim of eliciting protective immune responses. As for oral immunisation, such an approach obviates the usual loss of antigen integrity observed during gastrointestinal passage and allows the delivery of a sufficient antigen dose to the mucosal immune system. Antibiotic and antibiotic-resistance genes have traditionally been used for the maintenance of recombinant plasmid vectors in bacteria used for biotechnological purposes. However, their continued use may appear undesirable in the field of live carrier-based vaccine development. This review focuses on strategies to omit antibiotic resistance determinants in live bacterial vaccines and discusses several balanced lethal-plasmid stabilisation systems with respect to maintenance of plasmid inheritance and antigenicity of plasmid-encoded antigen in vivo. | 2005 | 15755571 |
| 9189 | 16 | 0.9808 | CRISPR-Cas9 System: A Prospective Pathway toward Combatting Antibiotic Resistance. Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels throughout the world. To cope with this problem, scientists are working on CRISPR-based research so that antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be killed and attacked almost as quickly as antibiotic-sensitive bacteria. Nuclease activity is found in Cas9, which can be programmed with a specific target sequence. This mechanism will only attack pathogens in the microbiota while preserving commensal bacteria. This article portrays the delivery methods used in the CRISPR-Cas system, which are both viral and non-viral, along with its implications and challenges, such as microbial dysbiosis, off-target effects, and failure to counteract intracellular infections. CRISPR-based systems have a lot of applications, such as correcting mutations, developing diagnostics for infectious diseases, improving crops productions, improving breeding techniques, etc. In the future, CRISPR-based systems will revolutionize the world by curing diseases, improving agriculture, and repairing genetic disorders. Though all the drawbacks of the technology, CRISPR carries great potential; thus, the modification and consideration of some aspects could result in a mind-blowing technique to attain all the applications listed and present a game-changing potential. | 2023 | 37370394 |
| 8263 | 17 | 0.9807 | CRISPR/Cas9: A Novel Weapon in the Arsenal to Combat Plant Diseases. Plant pathogens like virus, bacteria, and fungi incur a huge loss of global productivity. Targeting the dominant R gene resulted in the evolution of resistance in pathogens, which shifted plant pathologists' attention toward host susceptibility factors (or S genes). Herein, the application of sequence-specific nucleases (SSNs) for targeted genome editing are gaining more importance, which utilize the use of meganucleases (MN), zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector-based nucleases (TALEN) with the latest one namely clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9). The first generation of genome editing technologies, due to their cumbersome nature, is becoming obsolete. Owing to its simple and inexpensive nature the use of CRISPR/Cas9 system has revolutionized targeted genome editing technology. CRISPR/Cas9 system has been exploited for developing resistance against virus, bacteria, and fungi. For resistance to DNA viruses (mainly single-stranded DNA viruses), different parts of the viral genome have been targeted transiently and by the development of transgenic plants. For RNA viruses, mainly the host susceptibility factors and very recently the viral RNA genome itself have been targeted. Fungal and bacterial resistance has been achieved mainly by targeting the host susceptibility genes through the development of transgenics. In spite of these successes CRISPR/Cas9 system suffers from off-targeting. This and other problems associated with this system are being tackled by the continuous discovery/evolution of new variants. Finally, the regulatory standpoint regarding CRISPR/Cas9 will determine the fate of using this versatile tool in developing pathogen resistance in crop plants. | 2018 | 30697226 |
| 8231 | 18 | 0.9807 | The evolutionary atavistic endotoxin and neoplastic growth. A hypothesis on the potential role of atavistic endotoxin in carcinogenesis is proposed. The presence of an antigen identical to the endotoxin of gram-negative bacteria in tumour cells is confirmed by IgM class natural specific antibodies to endotoxin (IgMNAE) in rats by immunizing them with rat tumour tissue extracts. Rat normal tissue extracts do not increase the endogenous level of natural immunity to endotoxin, indicating the absence of a foreign antigen such as endotoxin in normal cells which are naturally devoid also of other parasitic features such as invasiveness and metastases, whereas tumour cells, during a prolonged latent period of carcinogenesis, acquire resistance to harmful factors, lose most of their genetic, antigenic, morphological and biochemical properties and become parasitic so as to survive in unfavourable conditions. With the regression of the mentioned properties of cells to the atavistic parasitic state, the synthesis of dormant endotoxin is activated together with an enhanced expression of evolutionary resistance-related genes and oncogenes. Atavistic endotoxin, produced and secreted by proliferating tumour cells, should cause chronic cachexia and septic states in cancer patients, similarly as in cases of endotoxemic septic shock where the endotoxin of gram-negative bacteria is the main pathogenic factor. Thus, the implications of the hypothesis indicate the diagnostic as well as prognostic and preventive significance of evolutionary atavistic endotoxin and also of endotoxin from gram-negative bacteria in human cancers. Natural specific antibodies to endotoxin can be helpful in creating new immunotherapeutic methods. | 2011 | 20943325 |
| 8264 | 19 | 0.9806 | Anti-CRISPR Phages Cooperate to Overcome CRISPR-Cas Immunity. Some phages encode anti-CRISPR (acr) genes, which antagonize bacterial CRISPR-Cas immune systems by binding components of its machinery, but it is less clear how deployment of these acr genes impacts phage replication and epidemiology. Here, we demonstrate that bacteria with CRISPR-Cas resistance are still partially immune to Acr-encoding phage. As a consequence, Acr-phages often need to cooperate in order to overcome CRISPR resistance, with a first phage blocking the host CRISPR-Cas immune system to allow a second Acr-phage to successfully replicate. This cooperation leads to epidemiological tipping points in which the initial density of Acr-phage tips the balance from phage extinction to a phage epidemic. Furthermore, both higher levels of CRISPR-Cas immunity and weaker Acr activities shift the tipping points toward higher initial phage densities. Collectively, these data help elucidate how interactions between phage-encoded immune suppressors and the CRISPR systems they target shape bacteria-phage population dynamics. | 2018 | 30033365 |