Increased pressure imposed by improper and extensive use of antimicrobial agents has accelerated the emergence and spread of bacterial resistance, posing a significant global health concern. Enzymatic inactivation of the antimicrobials, modification of the target sites, and reducing the intracellular accumulation of antimicrobials by arranging influx/efflux mechanisms are the primary contributors to resistance. The loss in available drug efficacies due to these resistance mechanisms and the decrease in new antimicrobial discovery rates have increased the search for alternative strategies.

This presentation will mainly focus on three different strategies to fight against increasing antimicrobial resistance. The first one is the use of plant-derived substances, which are of utmost importance in the discovery of new antimicrobial agents with their structural diversities and multi-target properties. The second one is understanding the allosteric regulation/inhibition of beta-lactamase enzymes, which are the most common resistance mechanisms developed by bacteria against beta-lactam antibiotics. The last strategy is targeting the virulence factors to disarm the bacteria.