{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T01:15:29Z","timestamp":1788225329250,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770076800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770076800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000923","name":"Australian Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["LE0237908"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LE0237908"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000923","name":"Australian Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["LE0668477"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LE0668477"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000923","name":"Australian Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["LE140100119"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LE140100119"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000925","name":"National Health and Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GNT2017383"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GNT2017383"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000925","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Microbiol Spectr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Neisseria gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Neisseria meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      are closely related and important human pathogens that cause distinct diseases of clinical significance. While\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      infrequently demonstrates antibiotic resistance, the rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                      isolates emphasizes the urgency of novel therapeutics against this pathogen. Recently, repurposing of approved drugs and the therapeutic potential of natural compounds have been explored as alternative strategies to treat gonococcal infections. We screened 54 natural bioactive compounds and identified celastrol and pristimerin, two quinone-methide triterpenoids, which exhibited bactericidal activity against\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                      1291. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for 10 susceptible and multidrug-resistant\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains ranged between 0.4\u201311.3 mg\/L and 0.7\u201323.3 mg\/L, respectively. Both compounds were also bactericidal against a diverse panel of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains representing multiple serogroups. The MIC and MBC for\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains ranged between 1.4\u201323.3 mg\/L and 1.4\u201346.5 mg\/L, respectively. Pristimerin effectively cleared\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                      infection in transformed primary cervical epithelial cells without inducing cytotoxicity at biologically active concentrations. In contrast, celastrol exhibited a modest cytotoxic effect on the cells. In summary, we screened a library of bioactive compounds and identified the natural quinone-methide triterpenoids celastrol and pristimerin, as antimicrobial leads against pathogenic\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Neisseria<\/jats:italic>\n                      species. These compounds represent promising scaffolds for the future development of therapeutics targeting gonorrhea.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:sec>\n                      <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                      <jats:p>\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Neisseria gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                        and\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Neisseria meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                        cause clinically significant diseases, but rising multidrug-resistant\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                        creates an urgent need for new therapies. We screened 54 natural bioactive compounds from the NatureBank library and identified celastrol and pristimerin, two quinone-methide triterpenoids with notable bactericidal activity against susceptible and resistant\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. gonorrhoeae<\/jats:italic>\n                        , as well as diverse\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                        serogroups. Celastrol showed stronger activity but limited selectivity and known toxicity, indicating a need for structural optimization. Pristimerin exhibited a favorable safety margin while maintaining antimicrobial potency. These findings highlight natural triterpenoids as promising scaffolds for lead optimization and development into novel antimicrobials to combat antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.\n                      <\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:sec>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/spectrum.02724-25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]],"date-time":"2025-12-30T15:01:43Z","timestamp":1767106903000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Antimicrobial activity of natural quinone-methide triterpenoids celastrol and pristimerin against pathogenic\n                    <i>Neisseria<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5626-7973","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alice","family":"Ascari","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02hsggv49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University","place":["Gold Coast, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"family":"Taha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02hsggv49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University","place":["Gold Coast, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4291-7573","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rohan A.","family":"Davis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02hsggv49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University","place":["Gold Coast, Australia"]},{"name":"School of Environment and Science, Griffith University","place":["Nathan, Australia"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02sc3r913","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"NatureBank, Griffith University","place":["Nathan, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7094-3528","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Kate L.","family":"Seib","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02hsggv49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University","place":["Gold Coast, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5188-7946","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Evgeny A.","family":"Semchenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02hsggv49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University","place":["Gold Coast, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","unstructured":"WHO. 2025. Gonorrhoea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection). Available from: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/gonorrhoea-(Neisseria-gonorrhoeae-infection). Retrieved Sep 2025."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vaccine.2011.12.062"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41585-021-00534-5"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0091-7435(02)00058-0"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","first-page":"627","volume-title":"Sexually tramsitted diseases","author":"Hook EW","year":"2008","unstructured":"Hook EW, Hansfield HH. 2008. Gonoccoal infection in the adult, p 627\u2013645. In Holmes KK (ed), Sexually tramsitted diseases. 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