So obviously we have a big problem with antibiotic resistance. Most of our antibiotics originate from bacteria themselves (or are synthetic variations on scaffolds which originate from bacteria). I have heard it asserted that using antibacterials derived from plants would lessen the problem.
One argument for the use of plants is that the bacteria from which we derive an antibiotic must themselves already be resistant to that antibiotic, meaning that the allele for resistance is already in the bacterial gene pool and when we exert a selection pressure by using the antibiotic, resistance will eventually appear among pathogenic species.
Another argument I have heard is that plants can provide a lot of structurally diverse metabolites from which we might discover new classes of antibacterials.
Is there anything else to this?
(I know I have answered my own question to an extent, but I am wondering whether there are any other good reasons to look to plants for the next generation of antibacterial drugs).
Thank you!
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