Infective diseases have become health threat of a global proportion due to appearance and spread of microorganisms resistant to majority of therapeutics currently used for their treatment. Therefore, there is a constant need for development of new antimicrobial agents, as well as novel therapeutic strategies. Quinolines and quinolones, isolated from plants, animals, and microorganisms, have demonstrated numerous biological activities such as antimicrobial, insecticidal, antiinflammatory, antiplatelet, and antitumor. For more than two centuries quinoline/quinolone moiety has been used as a scaffold for drug development and even today it represents an inexhaustible inspiration for design and development of novel semi-synthetic or synthetic agents exhibiting broad spectrum of bioactivities. The structural diversity of synthetized compounds provides high and selective activity attained through different mechanisms of action, as well as low toxicity on human cells. This review describes quinoline and quinolone derivatives with antibacterial, antifungal, anti-virulent, antiviral, and anti-parasitic activities with the focus on the last 10 years literature.

Antibiotic resistance has become a serious global threat to public health; therefore, improved strategies and structurally novel antimicrobials are urgently needed to combat infectious diseases. Here we report a new type of highly potent 4-aminoquinoline derivatives as quorum sensing inhibitors in Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, exhibiting weak bactericidal activities (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) > 400 μM). Through detailed structure-activity study, we have identified 7-Cl and 7-CF substituted N-dodecylamino-4-aminoquinolines (5 and 10) as biofilm formation inhibitors with 50% biofilm inhibition at 69 μM and 63 μM in S. marcescens and P. aeruginosa, respectively. These two compounds, 5 and 10, are the first quinoline derivatives with anti-biofilm formation activity reported in S. marcescens. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis identified structural descriptors such as Wiener indices, hyper-distance-path index (HDPI), mean topological charge (MTC), topological charge index (TCI), and log D(o/w) as the most influential in biofilm inhibition in this bacterial species. Derivative 10 is one of the most potent quinoline type inhibitors of pyocyanin production described so far (IC = 2.5 μM). While we have demonstrated that 5 and 10 act as Pseudomonas quinolone system (PQS) antagonists, the mechanism of inhibition of S. marcescens biofilm formation with these compounds remains open since signaling similar to P. aeruginosa PQS system has not yet been described in Serratia and activity of these compounds on acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) signaling has not been detected. Our data show that 7-Cl and 7-CF substituted N-dodecylamino-4-aminoquinolines present the promising scaffolds for developing antivirulence and anti-biofilm formation agents against multidrug-resistant bacterial species.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been amongst the top 10 'superbugs' worldwide and is causing infections with poor outcomes in both humans and animals. From 202 P. aeruginosa isolates (n = 121 animal and n = 81 human), 40 were selected on the basis of biofilm-forming ability and were comparatively characterized in terms of virulence determinants to the type strain P. aeruginosa PAO1. Biofilm formation, pyocyanin and hemolysin production, and bacterial motility patterns were compared with the ability to kill human cell line A549 in vitro. On average, there was no significant difference between levels of animal and human cytotoxicity, while human isolates produced higher amounts of pyocyanin, hemolysins and showed increased swimming ability. Non-parametric statistical analysis identified the highest positive correlation between hemolysis and the swarming ability. For the first time an ensemble machine learning approach used on the in vitro virulence data determined the highest relative predictive importance of the submerged biofilm formation for the cytotoxicity, as an indicator of the infection ability. The findings from the in vitro study were validated in vivo using zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. This study highlighted no major differences between P. aeruginosa species isolated from animal and human infections and the importance of pyocyanin production in cytotoxicity and infection ability.

Highlights Cellulose acetate films were impregnated with thymol using supercritical CO2  Target thymol contents for desired antibacterial activity were in the range 26-30%  Thymol prevented S. aureus and P. aeruginosa attachment to films' surfaces  Released thymol reduced biofilm formation on the surrounding surfaces  The films showed strong anti-biofilm activity against antibiotic resistant strains Graphical abstarct

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MTaze metiluju nukleinske kiseline (DNK, RNK) i proteine, moduli{u}i tako njihovu aktivnost, funkciju i strukturnu organizaciju. Metilacija G1405 ili A1408 baza u 16S rRNK mikroorganizama koji proizvode aminoglikozide obezbe |u -je rezistenciju na sopstvene toksi~ne pro izvode. Ovaj mehanizam rezistencije je donedavno bio opi san samo kod proizvo|a~a antibiotika. Od 2003. godine i kod patogenih bakterija bele`i se neprestan porast rezi sten cije na aminoglikozide putem ovog mehanizma, {to predstavlja veliku pretnju efikasnoj upotrebi aminoglikozida u klini~koj praksi. Jedno od mogu}ih re{enja problema le`i u razvoju novih jedinjenja koja bi efikasno delovala na nova mesta u okviru ribozoma. Drugi pristup re{avanju ovog problema uklju~uje razvoj inhibitora MTaza odgovornih za rezisten ciju, sa idejom da se onemogu}i modifikacija bakte rijske rRNK i na taj na~in vrati terapeutska efikasnost postoje}im aminogliko zidima. Fundamentalna istra`ivanja vezana za proteinsku ekspresiju, potpuno razumevanje mehanizma rezistencije kao i razre{enje tercijarne strukture proteina su neophodan preduslov za primenu inhibitora 16S rRNK MTaza u medicini.

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This study investigates the modification of commercial cellulose acetate microfiltration membranes by supercritical solvent impregnation with thymol to provide them with antibacterial properties. The impregnation process was conducted in a batch mode, and the effect of pressure and processing time on thymol loading was followed. The impact of the modification on the membrane’s microstructure was analyzed using scanning electron and ion-beam microscopy, and membranes’ functionality was tested in a cross-flow filtration system. The antibiofilm properties of the obtained materials were studied against Staphyloccocus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while membranes’ blocking in contact with bacteria was examined for S. aureus and Escherichia coli. The results revealed a fast impregnation process with high thymol loadings achievable after just 0.5 h at 15 MPa and 20 MPa. The presence of 20% of thymol provided strong antibiofilm properties against the tested strains without affecting the membrane’s functionality. The study showed that these strong antibacterial properties could be implemented to the commercial membranes’ defined polymeric structure in a short and environmentally friendly process.