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
Keywords
Alternative Title
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