Oligochlorophens are potent inhibitors of Bacillus anthracis

Abstract

Bacterial cytoskeletal proteins are an emerging set of targets for antibiotic development. This paper describes oligochlorophen analogs based on the monomer 4-chloro-2,6-dimethylphenol as antimicrobial agents against Bacillus anthracis. The most potent analogs have a MIC of 160 to 320 nM against B. anthracis and may target the cytoskeletal protein FtsZ. B. anthracis develops resistance to the oligochlorophens at a rate of 4.34 × 10-10 per generation, which is ∼10-fold lower than that of commercial antibiotics used to treat this human pathogen. Copyright © 2010, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.