MSc (Med), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Computer and Information Science

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains continually arise and their increasing prevalence poses significant clinical and societal challenges. Functional analyses of resistant mutants and the study of general stress responses perturbed by antibiotic treatment have yielded valuable insights into how resistance arises through mutations. However, less is known about the population dynamics and communal interactions that underlie the development of resistance through mutations. In this work, we utilize systems approaches to study the functional dynamics of bacterial populations evolving antibiotic resistance. We follow a continuous culture of Escherichia coli facing increasing levels of antibiotic and show that the vast majority of isolates are less resistant than the population as a whole. We find that the few highly resistant mutants improve the survival of the populations less resistant constituents, in part, by producing indole, a signaling molecule generated by actively growing and unstressed cells. We show, through transcriptional profiling, that indole serves to turn on drug efflux pumps and oxidative stress protective mechanisms. The indole production comes at a fitness cost to the highly resistant isolates, and wholegenome sequencing reveals that this bacterial altruism is enabled by drug-resistance mutations unrelated to indole production. This work establishes a population-based resistance mechanism constituting a form of kin selection whereby a small number of resistant mutants can, at some cost to themselves, provide protection to other more vulnerable cells, enhancing the survival capacity of the overall population in stressful environments. Deeper studies into cooperative strategies bacteria use to evade antibiotics may prove critical for the rational design of more effective antimicrobial interventions. / 2031-01-01

Hospital-acquired infections are the most frequent adverse event in healthcare delivery worldwide. Seven in ten hospital-acquired infections exhibit resistance to at least one antibiotic, and three in five doctors have encountered an infection unresponsive to any treatment at all. This prolongs hospitalisation, increases suffering, and causes long-term disability and unnecessary death. At present the antibiotic pipeline is unable to meet the demand for novel antibiotics needed to treat these infections. Herein I discuss how the lack of new scaffolds, limitations of target-based screening, and poor target validation each contribute to the current bottleneck in the antibiotic pipeline. In turn, I argue that the development and application of chemical probes is a more fruitful way to make progress towards new antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action. This dissertation describes a combined chemical-biology study in the search for novel inhibitors of the human pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. First we extend organocatalysis to the field of diversity-oriented synthesis as a powerful means to generate molecular diversity and complexity in small molecule screening collections. We then study a family of potential biofilm inhibitors identified from a diverse screening collection, and for which we suggest a possible mode of action upon the quorum sensing receptors LasR and RhlR. Thereafter we provide evidence that a novel macrocycle, based upon the cylindrocyclophane family of natural products, inhibits methicillin-resistant S. aureus through action upon the respiratory chain. Finally, we also report insights into the structure and small molecule inhibition of a key P. aeruginosa drug target, malate synthase G. Together the findings in this dissertation encourage the development and application of divergent synthesis and unbiased screening methods in antibacterial discovery.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1979. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references. / Ph.D.

No description available.

Bibliography: leaves 168-176. / v, 178 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Chemistry, 1994?

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.