Beta-lactam antibiotic resistance: a current structural perspective
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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Generating Transposon Insertion Libraries in Gram-Negative Bacteria for High-Throughput Sequencing
Published on: July 7, 2020
Mark S Wilke1, Andrew L Lovering, Natalie C J Strynadka
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Center for Blood Research, University of British Columbia, 2146 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
Abstract:
Bacterial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics can be achieved by any of three strategies: the production of beta-lactam-hydrolyzing beta-lactamase enzymes, the utilization of beta-lactam-insensitive cell wall transpeptidases, and the active expulsion of beta-lactam molecules from Gram-negative cells by way of efflux pumps. In recent years, structural biology has contributed significantly to the understanding of these processes and should prove invaluable in the design of drugs to combat beta-lactam resistance in the future.
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