Call for Papers

Bacterial resistance to β-lactam antibiotics currently poses a very serious threat to the clinical community. The antibiotic resistance to this class of antibiotics originates from the expression of several serine- and metal-containing β-lactamases that hydrolyze the amide bond in the β-lactams. The zinc enzymes (metallo-β-lactamases, mβl, class B), in particular, can effectively hydrolyze a variety of β-lactam substrates including the latest generation of antibiotics such as cephamycins and imipenem, that are generally resistant to the serine-containing enzymes. As a consequence, the clinical application of the entire range of β-lactam antibiotics is severely compromised in bacteria that produce metallo-β-lactamases. Therefore, it is important to understand the bioinorganic chemistry of metallo-β-lactamases.

The aim of this special issue is to publish contributions from scientists working in various disciplines related to metallo-β-lactamases and their synthetic analogues. We invite authors to submit their original research articles, reviews, or minireviews for the special issue.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Kinetic and mechanistic aspects of metallo-β-lactamase-catalyzed hydrolysis
• Structural studies
• Inhibitor design
• Development of novel antibiotics
• Isolation and detection methods
• Mutational studies
• Antiobiotic recognition by metallo-β-lactamases
• Synthetic complexes as enzyme mimics
• Theoretical and computational studies on natural enzymes and their synthetic analogues

Authors should follow the Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications manuscript format described at the journal website http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bca/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications Manuscript Tracking System at http://www.hindawi.com/mts/, according to the following timetable:

Manuscript Due	November 1, 2007
First Round of Reviews	February 1, 2008
Publication Date	May 1, 2008

Guest Editor:

Govindasamy Mugesh, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India