Identification of Protein Drug Targets of Biofilm Formation and Quorum Sensing in Multidrug Resistant Enterococcus faecalis

Abstract

Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) is an opportunistic multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogen found in the guts of humans and farmed animals. Due to the occurrence of (MDR) strain there is an urgent need to look for an alternative treatment approach. E. faecalis is a Gram-positive bacterium, which is presently amongst the most prevalent multidrug resistant hospital pathogens. Its ability to develop quorum sensing (QS) mediated biofilm formation further exacerbates the pathogenicity and triggers life- threatening infections. Therefore, developing a suitable remedy for curing E. faecalis mediated enterococcal infections is an arduous task. Several putative virulence factors and proteins are involved in the development of biofilms in E. faecalis. Such proteins often play important roles in virulence, disease, and colonization by pathogens. The elucidation of the structure-function relationship of such protein drug targets and the interacting compounds could provide an attractive paradigm towards developing structure-based drugs against E. faecalis. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current status, enigmas that warrant further studies, and the prospects toward alleviating the antibiotic resistance in E. faecalis. Specifically, the role of biofilm and quorum sensing (QS) in the emergence of MDR strains had been elaborated along with the importance of the protein drug targets involved in both the processes.

Editorial: Reviews in antibiotic resistance and new antimicrobial drugs

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Editorial on the Research Topic

Reviews in antibiotic resistance and new antimicrobial drugsAt the time of their discovery, antibiotics were considered a wonder drug for the treatment of bacterial infections, but the way microorganisms have involved several robust mechanisms to encounter the antibiotics has given rise to multi-drug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drugresistant (XDR) strains (Eichenberger and Thaden, 2019;Terreni et al, 2021;Yadav et al, 2022). There are several ways by which the pathogen acquires resistance to antibiotics, including genetic variation in the genome of the pathogen, unselective usage of antibiotics, the development of biofilms, etc (Santos-Lopez et al, 2019;Singh et al, 2019).

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