The Development of FtsZ Inhibitors as Potential Antibacterial Agents

Abstract

The emergence and prevalence of bacterial resistance has resulted in a clear demand for novel antibacterial drugs. As a tubulin homologue, FtsZ is an essential cell-division protein in prokaryotic organisms and is showing increasing promise as a target for antibacterial drug discovery. This review describes the role of FtsZ in bacterial cytokinesis and various FtsZ inhibitors, with particular focus on their discovery, antibacterial activities, mechanisms of action, synthetic methods, and representative analogues. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.