Unlocking the Potential of Brazilian Plant Terpenes to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

The group of bacteria known as ESKAPE: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp. are well recognized for their high virulence and pathogenicity, employing diverse modalities and mechanisms to resist multiple classes of clinically relevant antibiotics. Their capacity to evade treatment presents a major public health challenge, highlighting the urgent need for novel antibiotics to address the growing resistance crisis. The plant kingdom presents a promising avenue to this fight. Plants are naturally endowed with the genomic and proteomic machinery to synthesize a wide arsenal of secondary metabolites, including terpenes and terpenoids, which have demonstrated potent antimicrobial properties both as standalone agents and as synergists or enhancers of existing antibiotics. These plant-derived compounds often operate through mechanisms distinct from those of conventional antibiotics, offering a potentially effective solution against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Brazil, home to some of the richest biodiversity on the planet, boasts 46,000 recorded plant species, with 250 new species identified annually. This review delves into the methods of preparing and isolating terpenes and terpenoids from plants, explores the techniques used to assess their antibacterial activity, and highlights ongoing research using Brazilian plants to target ESKAPE pathogens. This compilation of knowledge aims to establish a pipeline for evaluating the antibacterial potential of terpenes and terpenoids, contributing to efforts addressing the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.