Abstract
Fungal infections cause serious problems in many aspects of human life;
especially infections by fungal species represent problems in
immunocompromised patients. Current antifungal antibiotics target
various metabolic pathways, predominantly the cell wall or cellular
membrane. However, numerous compounds are available to combat fungal
infections, their efficacy is far from being satisfactory and some of
them display substantial toxicity. The emerging resistance represents a
serious issue as well; thus, there is a considerable need for new
anti-fungal compounds with lower toxicity and higher effectiveness. One
of the unique antifungal antibiotics is sordarin, the only known
compound that acts on the fungal translational machinery per se. It has
been shown that sordarin inhibits protein synthesis at the elongation
step of the translational cycle, acting on eukaryotic
elongation-factor-2. In this review, we are aiming to deliver a robust
scientific platform promoting the development of antifungal compounds,
especially focusing on molecular action of sordarin.