Alternative Approaches to Antimicrobial Therapy: Intercepting Quorum Sensing in Pneumococci (Streptococcus pneumoniae)
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Authors
Sanchez, Lucia
Issue Date
2016
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
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Abstract
Current approaches to antimicrobial therapy are designed to kill bacteria. However, the extensive use of such agents and the pressure they pose has resulted in the widespread emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a commensal bacterium that colonizes in the nasopharynx of many humans, but it is also an opportunistic pathogen that can cause infections and results in over a million deaths per year worldwide. S. pneumoniae uses a cell-to-cell communication mechanism called quorum sensing, which enable bacteria to assess their population density, to attack the host. The competence stimulating peptide (CSP) is the 17-amino acid peptide pheromone used to trigger quorum sensing and alteration of its structure can be used attenuate quorum sensing-regulated phenotypes. The evaluation of mono-substituted alanine, D-amino acids, and N-methyl CSP-1 analogs will provide further knowledge regarding the structure-function of CSP-1 and could be used to develop novel quorum sensing modulators as an alternative antimicrobial therapy.
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In Copyright