Unravelling multiple antibiotic resistance in Salmonella enterica

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We are performing experiments that will allow us to understand how salmonella bacteria become multi-drug (antibiotic) resistant (MDR) after exposure to antibiotics. Every year people are exposed to salmonella and some people get ill. The very old and young are particularly vulnerable to this infection and they may be so sick that they need antibiotics to help them recover. Treatment of antibiotic resistant salmonella can be difficult. One way in which bacteria can resist antibiotic action is to pump the drug out of the cell. This is why some bacteria are always resistant to some drugs. Some MDR salmonella produce even more of these pumps than normal strains, making these MDR strains additionally resistant to antibiotics. Whilst we know the identity of some of these pumps, we do not know what controls when they are produced, or what makes the bacterium produce more. New methods allow us to look at what happens to bacteria when we have removed or ‘knocked out’ the pump. Other methods allow us to both inactivate, and label, the antibiotic resistance. By doing this the DNA sequence, and hence the gene/s involved, are found.Understanding how MDR is caused will allow us to develop screening tests to quickly identify this type of resistance. Inhibitors of the pumps or genes that control their production can also be developed.