From Genome to Drugs: New Approaches in Antimicrobial Discovery

SERRAL FEDERICO; CASTELLO FLORENCIA; SOSA EZEQUIEL; PARDO AM; PALUMBO, MIRANDA C.; CARLOS MODENUTTI; MARÍA MERCEDES PALOMINO; ALBERTO LAZAROWSKY; JERONIMO AUZMENDI; PABLO IVAN RAMOS; MARISA NICOLAS

Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics in Latin America: Ethnic Variability, New Insights in Advances and Perspectives: A RELIVAF-CYTED Iniciative

Frontiers

Año: 2022; p. 117 - 131

Decades of successful use of antibiotics is currently challenged by the emergence ofincreasingly resistant bacterial strains. Novel drugs are urgently required but, in a scenariowhere private investment in the development of new antimicrobials is declining, efforts tocombat drug-resistant infections become a worldwide public health problem. Reasonsbehind unsuccessful new antimicrobial development projects range from inadequateselection of the molecular targets to a lack of innovation. In this context, increasinglyavailable omics data for multiple pathogens has created new drug discovery anddevelopment opportunities to fight infectious diseases. Identification of an appropriatemolecular target is currently accepted as a critical step of the drug discovery process.Here, we review how diverse layers of multi-omics data in conjunction with structural/functional analysis and systems biology can be used to prioritize the best candidateproteins. Once the target is selected, virtual screening can be used as a robustmethodology to explore molecular scaffolds that could act as inhibitors, guiding thedevelopment of new drug lead compounds. This review focuses on how the advent ofomics and the development and application of bioinformatics strategies conduct a ?bigdata era? that improves target selection and lead compound identification in a costeffective and shortened timeline