ABSTRACT
The high levels of antibiotic resistance registered worldwide have become a serious health problem, threatening the currently available treatments for a series of infectious diseases. With antibiotics becoming less and less effective, it is becoming increasingly difficult and, in some cases, impossible to treat patients with even common infectious diseases, such as pneumonia. The inability to meet the ever-increasing demand to control microbial infection requires both the search for new antimicrobials and improved site-specific delivery. On the one hand, bacterial secondary metabolites are known for their diverse structure and antimicrobial potential and have been in use for a very long time in diverse sectors. A good deal of research is produced annually describing new molecules of bacterial origin with antimicrobial properties and varied applications. However, very few of these new molecules reach the clinical phase and even fewer are launched in the market for use. In this review article, we bring together information on these molecules with potential for application, in particular, for human and veterinary medicine, and the potential added value of the use of liposomes as delivery systems for site-specific delivery of these drugs with the synergistic effect to overcome the risk of antibiotic resistance.
ABSTRACT
Bacteria can produce nitrogenous compounds via both primary and secondary metabolic processes. Many bacterial volatile nitrogenous compounds produced during the secondary metabolism have been identified and reported for their antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, algicidal and antitumor activities. The production of these nitrogenous compounds depends on several factors, including the composition of culture media, growth conditions, and even the organic solvent used for their extraction, thus requiring their identification in specific conditions. In this review, we describe the volatile nitrogenous compounds produced by bacteria especially focusing on their antimicrobial activity. We concentrate on azo-compounds mainly pyrazines and pyrrolo-pyridines reported for their activity against several microorganisms. Whenever significant, extraction and identification methods of these compounds are also mentioned and discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this is first review describing volatile nitrogenous compounds from bacteria focusing on their biological activity.
