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Updated: Dec 19, 2025

Nanomechanics of Drug-target Interactions and Antibacterial Resistance Detection
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Antibiotic Resistance by Enzymatic Modification of Antibiotic Targets

Adam J Schaenzer1, Gerard D Wright1

  • 1David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5, Canada.

Trends in Molecular Medicine
|June 5, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Enzymatic modification of antibiotic targets, rather than genetic mutation, is a growing threat. Understanding these resistance enzymes is key to developing new strategies against antibiotic resistance.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Antibiotic resistance is a major global health concern.
  • Pathogens increasingly use target modification to evade antibiotics.
  • Enzymatic modification of antibiotic targets is a prevalent resistance mechanism.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review current understanding of enzymatic modification of antibiotic targets.
  • To discuss strategies for combating these resistance mechanisms.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on antibiotic resistance via target modification.
  • Analysis of enzymatic mechanisms conferring resistance.
  • Examination of emerging strategies to overcome resistance.

Main Results:

  • Enzymatic modification of targets like cell envelopes and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) confers resistance to various antibiotics (e.g., glycopeptides, polymyxins).
  • Resistance enzymes are often mobile among pathogens, accelerating spread.
  • Target modification represents an enzymatic, rather than mutational, resistance strategy.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding the enzymes driving target modification is critical for combating antibiotic resistance.
  • Developing novel approaches targeting these enzymes or their products is essential.
Keywords:
adjuvantantibioticglycopeptidemethyltransferasepolymyxinresistance

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