Bacterial conjugation-based antimicrobial agents.

Marcin Filutowicz, Richard Burgess, Richard L Gamelli, Jack A Heinemann, Brigitta Kurenbach, Sheryl A Rakowski, Ravi Shankar

Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Microbial Sciences Building, 1550 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706, USA. msfiluto@wisc.edu

Plasmid 2008 Jul

filter terms:

A clear imperative exists to generate radically different antibacterial technologies that will reduce the usage of conventional chemical antibiotics. Here we trace one route into this new frontier of drug discovery, a concept that we call the bacterial conjugation-based technologies (BCBT). One of the objectives of the BCBT is to exploit plasmid biology for combating the rising tide of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Specifically, the concept utilizes conjugationally delivered plasmids as antimicrobial agents, and it builds on the accumulated work of many scientists dating back to the discoveries of conjugation and plasmids themselves. Each of the individual components that comprise the approach has been demonstrated to be feasible. We discuss the properties of bacterial plasmids to be employed in BCBT.

Citation

Marcin Filutowicz, Richard Burgess, Richard L Gamelli, Jack A Heinemann, Brigitta Kurenbach, Sheryl A Rakowski, Ravi Shankar. Bacterial conjugation-based antimicrobial agents. Plasmid. 2008 Jul;60(1):38-44