Unravelling multiple antibiotic resistance in Salmonella enterica

我们正在进行实验，这将使我们能够了解沙门氏菌在接触抗生素后如何变得对多种药物（抗生素）具有耐药性。每年都有人接触到沙门氏菌，有些人因此生病。老年人和年轻人特别容易受到这种感染，他们可能病得很重，需要抗生素来帮助他们康复。治疗耐抗生素沙门氏菌是很困难的。细菌抵抗抗生素作用的一种方法是将药物排出细胞。这就是为什么有些细菌总是对某些药物有抗药性。一些耐多药沙门氏菌比正常菌株产生更多的泵，使这些耐多药沙门氏菌对抗生素产生额外的耐药性。虽然我们知道其中一些泵的身份，但我们不知道是什么控制它们何时产生，或者是什么使细菌产生更多。新的方法使我们能够看到当我们移除或“敲掉”泵时细菌会发生什么。其他方法可以让我们灭活并标记抗生素耐药性。通过这样做，DNA序列和相关基因就被发现了。了解耐多药是如何产生的，将使我们能够开发筛选试验，以快速确定这种类型的耐药性。还可以开发泵的抑制剂或控制其产生的基因。

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.