Antimicrobial resistance threatens the viability of modern medicine, which is largely dependent on the successful prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. Unfortunately, there are few new therapeutics in the clinical pipeline, particularly for Gram-negative bacteria. We now present a detailed evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of cannabidiol, the main non-psychoactive component of cannabis. We confirm previous reports of Gram-positive activity and expand the breadth of pathogens tested, including highly resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Clostridioides difficile. Our results demonstrate that cannabidiol has excellent activity against biofilms, little propensity to induce resistance, and topical in vivo efficacy. Multiple mode-of-action studies point to membrane disruption as cannabidiol's primary mechanism. More importantly, we now report for the first time that cannabidiol can selectively kill a subset of Gram-negative bacteria that includes the 'urgent threat' pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Structure-activity relationship studies demonstrate the potential to advance cannabidiol analogs as a much-needed new class of antibiotics.

Chapter 3 The Dynamic Architecture of the Bacillus Cell Marc D. Sharp, Marc D. SharpSearch for more papers by this authorKit Pogliano, Kit PoglianoSearch for more papers by this author Marc D. Sharp, Marc D. SharpSearch for more papers by this authorKit Pogliano, Kit PoglianoSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Abraham L. Sonenshein, Abraham L. Sonenshein Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University, Boston, MassachusettsSearch for more papers by this authorJames A. Hoch, James A. Hoch Division of Cellular Biology Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CaliforniaSearch for more papers by this authorRichard Losick, Richard Losick Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MassachusettsSearch for more papers by this author First published: 13 September 2001 https://doi.org/10.1128/9781555817992.ch3Citations: 1 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Summary This chapter discusses a few observations that have revealed the bacterial cell to be both dynamic and exquisitely organized, illustrates some of the techniques that have allowed these studies, and introduces a few new technologies that promise to provide an even more detailed and quantitative view of individual bacterial cells. In eukaryotic cells, directed movement of many macromolecules requires the cytoskeleton and associated motor proteins, which are lacking from bacterial cells. The large number of proteins found within the sporulation septum suggests that the septal membrane domain is functionally and structurally distinct from the remainder of the cytoplasmic membrane. While it is very difficult or impossible to visualize bacterial septa reproducibly using phase-contrast or Nomarski optics, fluorescent membrane stains are able to detect even incompletely synthesized septa, and they allow the precise measurement of cell length for studies of the bacterial cell cycle. Some of the most exciting new optical methods move well beyond the structural characterization of the bacterial cells to allow the quantitative biochemical analysis of individual cells and molecules. 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