Oligochlorophens Are Potent Inhibitors of Bacillus anthracis

Bacterial cytoskeletal proteins are an emerging set of targets for antibiotic development. This paper describes oligochlorophen analogs based on the monomer 4-chloro-2,6-dimethylphenol as antimicrobial agents against Bacillus anthracis. The most potent analogs have a MIC of 160 to 320 nM against B. anthracis and may target the cytoskeletal protein FtsZ. B. anthracis develops resistance to the oligochlorophens at a rate of 4.34 x 10(-10) per generation, which is similar to 10-fold lower than that of commercial antibiotics used to treat this human pathogen.