Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2009

The spread of microbial resistance leads to a growing demand for novel antimicrobial drugs. However, despite the significant efforts in academia and the pharmaceutical industry, no genuinely new class of antimicrobial compounds has reached the market in the last years. However, a large variety of substances with potential antimicrobial activity is widely distributed in nature being produced by both prokaryotes and eukary Read More

Lantibiotics are gene-encoded peptides that contain intramolecular ring structures, introduced through the thioether containing lanthionine and methyllanthionine residues. The overwhelming majority of the lantibiotics shows antibacterial activity. Some lantibiotics, e. g. nisin, are characterized by a dual mode of action. These peptides form a complex with the ultimate cell wall precursor lipid II, thereby inhibiting ce Read More

This review focuses on the structure and mode-of-action of non-lanthionine-containing peptide bacteriocins produced by Gram-positive bacteria. These bacteriocins may be divided into four groups: (i) the anti-listerial one-peptide pediocin-like bacteriocins that have very similar amino acid sequences, (ii) the two-peptide bacteriocins that consist of two different peptides, (iii) the cyclic bacteriocins, and (iv) the linear non-pedi Read More

Bacteriocins are bacterial antimicrobial peptides with bactericidal activity against other bacteria. Staphylococcins are bacteriocins produced by staphylococci, which are Gram-positive bacteria with medical and veterinary importance. Most bacteriocins produced by staphylococci are either lantibiotics (e.g., Pep5, epidermin, epilancin K7, epicidin 280, staphylococcin C55/BacR1, and nukacin ISK-1) or class II bacteriocins (e.g., Read More

Lactobacilli are common microorganisms in diverse vegetables and meat products and several of these are also indigenous inhabitants in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract of humans and animals where they are believed to have health promoting effects on the host. One of the highly appreciated probiotic effects is their ability to inhibit the growth of pathogens by producing antimicrobial peptides, so-called bacteriocins Read More

Microcins are a family of low-molecular weight bacteriocins produced and secreted by Gram-negative bacteria. This review is focused on microcin E492, a pore-forming bacteriocin produced by Klebsiella pneumoniae RYC492 that exerts its antibacterial action on related strains. The steps necessary for the production of active microcin E492 involve post-translational modification with a catechol-type siderophore at the C-te Read More

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are sessile marine filter feeders that have developed efficient defense mechanisms against foreign attackers such as viruses, bacteria, or eukaryotic organisms. Marine sponges are among the richest sources of pharmacologically-active chemicals from marine organisms. It is suggested that (at least) some of the bioactive secondary metabolites isolated from sponges are produced by functional Read More

Medicinal plants constitute the base of health care systems in many societies. The recovery of the knowledge and practices associated with these plant resources are part of an important strategy linked to the conservation of biodiversity, discovery of new medicines, and the bettering of the quality of life of poor rural communities. Research in phytosciences, an emerging multidisciplinary science, is almost unlimited, with sev Read More

Drug delivery strategies for peptide pharmaceuticals have incorporated a wide range of structure activity relationships, analog generation to impart protease resistance and increased bioavailability, novel formulations, and delivery systems to target optimal therapeutic dosing requirements. Advances in peptide pharmaceuticals have provided products for the treatment of diabetes, obesity, Crohn's disease, ost Read More

Glycan-protein interactions play important biological roles in biological processes. But there is a lack of simple high-throughput methods to elucidate recognition events between carbohydrates and protein. Although, there have been a number of glycan arrays developed in recent years utilizing different strategies and for different purposes, the method presented in this paper, a direct covalent immobilization of sugars to Read More