Plant Secondary Metabolites in the Battle of Drugs and Drug-Resistant Bacteria: New Heroes or Worse Clones of Antibiotics?

Abstract

Infectious diseases that are caused by bacteria are an important cause of mortality and morbidity in all regions of the world. Bacterial drug resistance has grown in the last decades, but the rate of discovery of new antibiotics has steadily decreased. Therefore, the search for new effective antibacterial agents has become a top priority. The plant kingdom seems to be a deep well for searching for novel antimicrobial agents. This is due to the many attractive features of plants: they are readily available and cheap, extracts or compounds from plant sources often demonstrate high-level activity against pathogens, and they rarely have severe side effects. The huge variety of plant-derived compounds provides very diverse chemical structures that may supply both the novel mechanisms of antimicrobial action and provide us with new targets within the bacterial cell. In addition, the rapid development of modern biotechnologies opens up the way for obtaining bioactive compounds in environmentally friendly and low-toxic conditions. In this short review, we ask the question: do antibacterial agents derived from plants have a chance to become a panacea against infectious diseases in the “post-antibiotics era”.

Bacterial-Derived Plant Protection Metabolite 2,4-Diacetylphloroglucinol: Effects on Bacterial Cells at Inhibitory and Subinhibitory Concentrations

“…The use of atomic force microscopy allows for the visualization of the interaction of antibiotics with target cells in ways that are inaccessible to other types of microscopy. The phase contrast can be explained by the energy dissipation of the vibrating cantilever due to the adhesive interactions between the AFM tip and the sample surface, as well as by the local viscoelastic properties of the sample [ 26 ]. Survey AFM scans demonstrate that the surface of bacteria undergoes some morphological changes upon contact with 2,4-DAPG molecules.…”

Plants as Sources of Anti-Inflammatory Agents

“…Substances of plant origin, belonging to the most diverse chemical classes, have already demonstrated proven anti-inflammatory activity [ 9 ]. Among them, alkaloids, terpenes [ 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 ], and phenolic compounds such as tannins, lignans, coumarins, saponins, and especially the flavonoids stand out [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 ] ( Figure 1 ).…”

Phytochemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Corydalis solida and Pseudofumaria lutea

“…Based on our research, further detailed analyses would allow us to determine the proportions between individual compounds, especially these of alkaloid and polyphenol groups contained in many other Corydalis species, and thus select the most valuable raw material. This would be justified because of the wide spectrum of biological activities of both isoquinoline alkaloids and polyphenolic compounds confirmed in the literature, especially antimicrobial [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”