Lipid remodelling: does it play a role in antibiotic resistance?

在21世纪，抗菌素耐药性已成为对全球公共卫生的严重威胁。耐药微生物能够在常规药物治疗中存活，从而导致持续感染。新的耐药机制不断出现，了解这些机制如何起作用至关重要。在这个项目中，脂质膜双分子层正在研究，这是防御抗菌素的第一道屏障。一种可能的抗微生物药物耐药性机制是膜脂的重塑。细菌重塑其膜脂组成，以响应不断变化的环境刺激，如营养的可用性。据推测，脂质重塑可能导致抗生素运输的变化，可能是由于蛋白质组成的改变。机会性细菌病原体，如假单胞菌和洋葱伯克霍尔德菌复群的成员具有高度耐药性，并含有脂质重塑所需的主要磷脂酶。利用这些模式生物，将研究抗菌素耐药性和脂质重塑之间的联系。

In the 21st century, antimicrobial resistance has become a serious threat to global public health. Resistant microbes are able to survive routine medical treatment, resulting in persistent infections. New resistance mechanisms are constantly emerging and it is vital to understand how these mechanisms work. In this project, the lipid membrane bilayer is under investigation, which is the first barrier of defence against antimicrobials. A possible mechanism of antimicrobial resistance is the remodelling of membrane lipids. Bacteria remodel their membrane lipid composition in response to changing environmental stimuli, such as nutrient availability. It is hypothesised that lipid remodelling could result in changes to antibiotic trafficking, possibly due to modifications in the protein composition. Opportunistic bacterial pathogens such as Pseudomonas spp. and members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex are highly resistant and contain the main phospholipase enzyme required for lipid remodelling. Using these model organisms, the link between antimicrobial resistance and lipid remodelling will be investigated.