Screening of natural products for antimicrobial agents.

Antimicrobial research is geared toward the discovery and development of novel chemical structures such as therapeutic antimicrobial agents. The continuing problem of development of resistance to existing antibacterial agents and the dearth of good antifungal agents motivates this effort toward innovation. Selection of possible new enzyme targets for antibiotic inhibition may be made on theoretical grounds, but it appears premature to select any single, previously unvalidated target for the intensive study required for rational drug design. Instead, a broad screen of chemical entities can be undertaken, dedicated to the discovery of novel antimicrobial inhibitors. A number of target areas are under investigation, including fungal mRNA splicing and bacterial DNA synthesis. A major part of the endeavor is in the historically productive area of natural product screening. To make the best use of natural product resources for the discovery of novel antibiotics, a balance is struct between screening for inhibitors of rationally chosen targets for which clinically useful inhibitors are not yet available, and screening more broadly to ensure that rare activities of unanticipated mode-of-action are not missed.