Chapter 1
Antibacterials
“What you see is that the most outstanding feature of life’s
history is a constant domination by bacteria.”
—Stephen Jay Gould, American evolutionary biologist,
palaeontologist, and science historian; 1941–2002.
Abstract This chapter sets the basic perspectives for the other chapters in the book.
In this context, aspects discussed include the ever-rising global health problem from
drug resistant pathogenic bacteria, a basic review of bacterial resistance mechanisms,
and the need for innovative solutions to overcome resistance to antibacterials. General
ways to achieve multiple-action effects through drug combinations, one or more being
directly antibacterial, and through single molecule hybrids and prodrugs, are introduced. Relevant definitions are also outlined in Sect. 1.5 and the chapter concludes
with an introduction to approaches towards achieving bacterial over host selectivity.
1.1 Bacteria
Bacteria, unicellular microorganisms which lack membrane bound organelles
(prokaryotes), have been remarkably successful in evolutionary terms colonising
most environments on earth. Generally it is thought they developed separately from
the archaea, microorganisms which thrive in more extreme environments, and from
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
J. Bremner, Multiple Action-Based Design Approaches to Antibacterials,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0999-2_1
1
Antibacterials
“What you see is that the most outstanding feature of life’s
history is a constant domination by bacteria.”
—Stephen Jay Gould, American evolutionary biologist,
palaeontologist, and science historian; 1941–2002.
Abstract This chapter sets the basic perspectives for the other chapters in the book.
In this context, aspects discussed include the ever-rising global health problem from
drug resistant pathogenic bacteria, a basic review of bacterial resistance mechanisms,
and the need for innovative solutions to overcome resistance to antibacterials. General
ways to achieve multiple-action effects through drug combinations, one or more being
directly antibacterial, and through single molecule hybrids and prodrugs, are introduced. Relevant definitions are also outlined in Sect. 1.5 and the chapter concludes
with an introduction to approaches towards achieving bacterial over host selectivity.
1.1 Bacteria
Bacteria, unicellular microorganisms which lack membrane bound organelles
(prokaryotes), have been remarkably successful in evolutionary terms colonising
most environments on earth. Generally it is thought they developed separately from
the archaea, microorganisms which thrive in more extreme environments, and from
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
J. Bremner, Multiple Action-Based Design Approaches to Antibacterials,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0999-2_1
1