Alternative natural sources for a new generation of antibacterial agents

The huge challenge posed by antibiotic resistance would be well served by the discovery and development of a new wave of antibacterial drugs. Natural products have been the mainstay of anti-infective drug discovery since the early days of the antibiotic era, but mining of valuable natural resources has been all but abandoned by the major pharmaceutical players in favour of synthetic chemistry. The search for naturally occurring antibacterial agents has continued in academe, but activities need to be repositioned to take advantage of exciting advances in genomics and advanced genetic engineering. This review evaluates the potential of microbial communities in underexplored environmental niches to yield new antibiotics and the harnessing of biomembrane-interactive plant-derived agents as supplements to conventional antibacterial chemotherapy.