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Prospects for plant-derived antibacterials

Nature Biotechnology volume 24, pages 1504–1507 (2006)Cite this article

Can weakly active phytochemicals be combined synergistically to produce new antibacterial treatments?

The scarcity of disease in wild plants indicates that the success of plant defense mechanisms in combating pathogen infection rivals that of mammalian immune systems. Although there are some interesting parallels between plant and animal defense strategies—for instance, both groups sacrifice infected tissues through apoptosis; produce numerous antimicrobial peptides; and attack microbes by creating an acidic environment, hydrogen peroxide and iron chelators—the similarities end there. Instead of pathogen-specific, somatically generated antibodies, plants evolved a relatively limited array of genomically encoded receptors to recognize specific pathogens, and developed an enormous variety of small-molecule antimicrobials. Here, we focus on the latter aspect of the plant defense response and discuss the potential for developing plant antibacterials into useful antibiotics.

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Figure 1
Figure 2

Frank R. Stermitz, Colorado State University

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Acknowledgements

Critical comments and advice of S. Gibbons, L. Silver, J. Clancy, and O. Lomovskaya are greatly appreciated. Work described in this paper was supported by US National Institutes of Health grants AI059483 to K.L. and AI064332 to F.M.A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Antimicrobial Discovery Center and Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Kim Lewis

  2. Department of Genetics, and Department of Molecular Biology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Frederick M Ausubel

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  2. Frederick M Ausubel
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Lewis, K., Ausubel, F. Prospects for plant-derived antibacterials. Nat Biotechnol 24, 1504–1507 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1206-1504

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