Researchers from the University of Oxford have developed a new small molecule that can suppress the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and make resistant bacteria more susceptible to antibiotics. The findings have been published in the journal Chemical Science. The global rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is one of the top global public health and development threats, with many common infections becoming increasingly difficult to treat.
It is estimated that drug-resistant bacteria are already directly responsible for around 1.27 million global deaths each year and contribute to a further 4.95 million deaths.
Without the rapid development of new antibiotics and antimicrobials, this figure is set to rise significantly. A new study led by researchers at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) and the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford University offers hope in the discovery of a small molecule that works alongside antibiotics to suppress the evolution of drug-resistance in bacteria. One of the ways that bacteria become resistant to antibiotics is due to new mutations in their genetic code.
Some antibiotics (such as fluoroquinolones) work by damaging bacterial DNA, causing the cells to die. However, this DNA damage can trigger a process known as the 'SOS response' in the affected bacteria. The SOS response repairs the damaged DNA in bacteria and increases the rate of genetic mutations, which can accelerate the development of resistance to the.
