Antimicrobials: The Role of Radicals as Secondary Killing Mechanism
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 21
Special Issue Editor
Interests: development and spreading of antimicrobial resistance; de novo acquisition of resistance; dynamics of resistance plasmids; evolution of antimicrobial resistance
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The “radical-based theory” has been disputed from the moment it was proposed. The concept is that the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to exposure to bactericidal antibiotics causes a subsequent secondary killing effect. In the many years that followed, additional evidence has accumulated. Primary among these is the identification of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine as the main ROS-caused damage, triggering death by the introduction of more single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) than the cell can handle. In addition, it turned out that more radicals than solely ROS are involved in this secondary killing process. Under anaerobic conditions, radical nitrogen species fulfill the same role, and when metabolic rates increase, reactive metabolic by-products contribute a similar effect. Given these developments, some fine-tuning of the radical-based theory may be in order. When metabolic rates increase, more radicals, not only ROS, are formed than when the cell metabolizes slower. It is well known that fast-growing cells are far more susceptible to antibiotics than slow- or non-growing cells. In addition, the formation of radicals stimulates the development of resistance through various cellular repair and coping mechanisms. Hence, it could well be that antimicrobials that cause an increase in metabolic rates are bactericidal and those that reduce metabolism, such as tetracycline, are bacteriostatic.
Given this background, this Special Issue welcomes contributions on the effects of radicals formed as a result of exposure to antimicrobials.
Prof. Dr. Benno H. Ter Kuile
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- antimicrobials
- radicals
- ROS
- radical nitrogen species
- 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine
