Understanding multiple antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria

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Antibiotics underpin modern medical, veterinary and farming practices worldwide. However, the efficacy of antibiotics is decreasing. A simple genetic system called mar, which can provide protection against multiple antibiotics, will be the focus of our project. Briefly, mutations in this system result in triggering of bacterial defences. Consequently, the bacterial cell is able to protect itself from many different toxic agents. We seek to identify and understand all of the cellular pathways that link this defence system to antibiotic resistance. By understanding pathways to drug resistance, we will provide new opportunities to control bacterial infections. Importantly, the pathways we will investigate are similar in many microbes. As a result, our findings will be applicable to many bacterial infections and so of broad interest.Antibiotics are often used with no knowledge of the infecting microorganism. Hence, widespread use of antibiotics favours the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Our experiments will be done using a bacterium called E. coli. This organism is commonly found in people and animals, including pigs. Furthermore, pigs are among the most common recipients of antibiotics in the EU and the number of serious E. coli infections in people is increasing. Indeed, the type of E. coli we will investigate has acquired mutations in the defence system we will study. Therefore, we will address a major health issue relevant to the UK animal food production industry as well as animal and human health. Importantly, this application comes at a time when there are global calls for a better understanding of antibiotic resistance.