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Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern that arises when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the effects of antibiotic treatments. This resistance can be intrinsic, acquired through genetic mutations, or transferred between bacteria via horizontal gene transfer. The development of antibiotic resistance poses significant challenges in treating bacterial infections and necessitates ongoing research to develop new therapeutic strategies.Intrinsic resistance occurs when bacterial...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 19, 2025

In vitro Investigation of the MexAB Efflux Pump From Pseudomonas aeruginosa

In vitro Investigation of the MexAB Efflux Pump From Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Published on: February 17, 2014

The Mycomembrane Differentially and Heterogeneously Restricts Antibiotic Permeation.

Irene Lepori¹, Kiserian Jackson^1,2, Zichen Liu^3,4

¹Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.

ACS Infectious Diseases

|June 5, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The mycobacterial outer membrane selectively blocks antibiotic entry, acting as a cell-specific barrier. This finding, using the Peptidoglycan Accessibility Click-Mediated AssessmeNt (PAC-MAN) method, reveals differential drug permeation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Keywords:

antibiotics bioorthogonal click chemistry cell envelope permeability tuberculosis

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Last Updated: Sep 19, 2025

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A Protocol to Characterize the Morphological Changes of Clostridium difficile in Response to Antibiotic Treatment

A Protocol to Characterize the Morphological Changes of Clostridium difficile in Response to Antibiotic Treatment

Published on: May 25, 2017

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Cell Biology
Drug Discovery

Background:

The outer mycomembrane of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is widely considered a primary barrier to antibiotic treatment.
Previous studies supporting this hypothesis relied on indirect evidence or bulk population measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of the mycobacterial mycomembrane as a barrier to antibiotic entry using a novel method.
To determine if the mycomembrane exhibits differential permeability to various molecules and antibiotics.

Main Methods:

Utilized the Peptidoglycan Accessibility Click-Mediated AssessmeNt (PAC-MAN) method to trap azide-modified small molecules within the peptidoglycan layer of live mycobacteria.
Applied PAC-MAN to analyze the differential restriction of fluorophores and antibiotic derivatives by the mycomembrane.

Main Results:

The mycomembrane was shown to differentially restrict access of fluorophores and antibiotic derivatives in both M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis.
Discrimination was observed between different classes of antibiotics and within the fluoroquinolone family.
Analysis of subpopulations revealed heterogeneous restriction of certain fluorophores and vancomycin by the mycomembrane.

Conclusions:

The mycobacterial mycomembrane acts as a dynamic, molecule- and cell-specific barrier to antibiotic permeation.
This finding has significant implications for understanding antibiotic resistance and developing new therapeutic strategies against tuberculosis.