Current trends in antimicrobial agent research: chemo- and bioinformatics approaches

• Published in: Drug discovery today Vol. 15; no. 13; pp. 540 - 546
• Main Authors: Hammami, Riadh, Fliss, Ismail
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Infective Agents - chemistry; Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical Research - trends; Computational Biology - methods; Databases, Factual; Drug Discovery - methods; Drug Discovery - trends; General pharmacology; Humans; Medical sciences; Pharmaceutical technology. Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Technology Transfer; Technology, Pharmaceutical; Bioinformatics; Antimicrobial agent; Pharmaceutical technology
• ISSN: 1359-6446; 1878-5832
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2010.05.002

Databases and chemo- and bioinformatics tools that contain genomic, proteomic and functional information have become indispensable for antimicrobial drug research. The combination of chemoinformatics tools, bioinformatics tools and relational databases provides means of analyzing, linking and comparing online search results. The development of computational tools feeds on a diversity of disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, computer science, information technology and molecular biology. The computational approach to antimicrobial agent discovery and design encompasses genomics, molecular simulation and dynamics, molecular docking, structural and/or functional class prediction, and quantitative structure–activity relationships. This article reviews progress in the development of computational methods, tools and databases used for organizing and extracting biological meaning from antimicrobial research.