Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs): currently potential bactericidal agents.

Abstract

In recent years, the emergence of ESBL-producing and multi-drug resistant bacteria have been increased and designing novel components is necessary for confrontation these bacteria. Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) are one of the synthetic components that bind to single strand DNA and RNA. Applications of these components are wide while, and one of the important applications of these components is inhibition of gene expression and knock downing the target gene follow as inhibition of bacterial growth. For PNA targeting gene, peptide-PNAs (PPNA) activity cannot be occurred without sequence homology, at the same time, it has been affected by sequence-based specific target and dose-dependent-based manner. Choosing the conserved sequence in different bacterial genus can provide broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. In this review article, we studied several research papers and extract PNA targeting genes that cause gene knock down and inhibition of bacterial growth. Some novel opportunities for advancement and the design ultra-narrow-spectrum antimicrobial drugs against multi-drug can be accessible by utilizing PNA against necessary genes of pathogens. These results open novel vision for therapeutic intervention. Future researches are required to evaluate the safety, toxicity and pharmacokinetics properties of PPNAs in order to be utilized in clinical treatment.