Recent advances in C. elegans as a model system for high throughput antimicrobial drug discovery

Abstract

Multidrug resistance among pathogens has become a leading cause of health care concern since these pathogens have acquired resistance against most classes of antimicrobial drugs. Therefore there is urgent need for newer antimicrobial compounds and new treatment strategies. Unfortunately the pace of new antimicrobial drug discovery programs have slowed down due to rising cost of drug discovery coupled with the relatively unattractive markets for antimicrobial drugs compared to drugs for chronic diseases. In this background, invertebrate model organisms such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are finding increasing use as models to study host-pathogen relationship and high throughput antimicrobial drug discovery. The focus of this review will be to give a brief outline of the C. elegans model for high throughput antimicrobial drug discovery.