Discussions

Research into bacterial ribosomes and the development of ribosome-targeting antibiotics have been important in the fight against pathogenic bacteria and have made outstanding contributions to human health. However, serious problems have developed, including bacterial drug resistance, and the toxicity of ribosomal antibiotics due to their low selectivity. Great advances have been made to deal with the issues of drug resistance and the selectivity and toxicity of ribosomes targeting antibacterial agents). Among all solutions, virtual screening and enzymatic activity assay-based screening to discover ribosome-targeting antimicrobials with novel chemical structures or scaffolds are the most important strategies. However, the complexity of ribosome structures has impeded the development of receptor-based docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and activity-based screening. Recently, advances in ligand-based drug discovery and artificial intelligence have facilitated the virtual discovery of drug development targets in ribosome--ribosomes targeting antimicrobials. In addition, with the development of cryo-electron microscopy technology and novel screening strategies, such as cell-free in vitro transcription and translation systems, opportunities to develop novel antimicrobials with greater accuracy and efficiency are emerging.