Role of RNA repair in the tolerance of bacteria to antibiotics.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The killing of bacteria by antibiotics is preceded by a period of adaptation and tolerance to the antibiotic(s). Similarly sub lethal amounts of antibiotics cause adaptations in the bacterial cells allowing them to better survive in the presence of antibiotics. Identifying the mechanisms behind antibiotic tolerance will afford us with new ways to manage the administration of antibiotics for controlling infections, and also inform new strategies for enhancing the action of antibiotics. We have discovered certain antibiotics cause the induction of a repair system in bacterial cells. The system repairs particular molecules in the cell called RNA, which perform key functions for cell growth and maintenance. By working out how the cells use the RNA repair system to help them survive antibiotic challenges we will be able to plan how to use different specific combinations of antibiotics to kill the bacteria, and also embark on a program of work to consider inhibiting the repair system itself. We anticipate that we can potentiate the killing actions of existing antibiotics through careful establishment of appropriate combinatorial treatments of bacterial infections.