Revision as of 17:17, 30 July 2008

Antibiotic Resistance Basic Parts

Introduction to Antibiotic Resistance

The established mechanisms of antibiotic resistance include the following:

1. Enzymes that inactivate the antibiotic [famously (a). beta-lactamases that destroy penicillins and related compounds and (b) enzymes that acetylate chloramphenicol].
2. Proteins that keep antibiotics out of the cell (by blocking the outer-membrane pores).
3. Membrane-embedded channel proteins that actively pump antibiotics out of the cell.
4. Proteins (and RNAs) with altered drug binding sites. (Vancomycin resistance comes from a switch in the chemistry of the cell-wall cross-linking peptide). This category also includes mutations in ribosomal RNA -- ribosomes are one of the main targets of both prokaryote- and eukaryote-directed antibiotics.
5. Proteins that enable substitution of an alternative metabolic pathway (as in the case of sulfonamide resistance).

Parts by Category

NB Parts listed in boldface are "good" parts ["Available" and (in most cases) "Work"]. Parts in plain type are poorly characterized.

1. Antibiotic-inactivating Enzymes

Basic parts

BBa_J23012

BBa_J31002

BBa_J31003

BBa_J31004

BBa_J31005

BBa_J42020

BBa_J42021

Plasmids

BBa_K125000

Cells

BBa_V1016

BBa_V1019

2. Membrane-blocking Proteins

3. Membrane-embedded Efflux Pumps

Basic parts

BBa_J31006

BBa_J31007

4. Altered Target Molecules

Basic parts

BBa_J42010

5. Components of Alternative Metabolic Pathways

Antibiotic Resistance Devices

These are BioBrick composite parts that contain (one or more?) antibiotic resistance components.

Note: Antibiotic resistance genes are present in most of the plasmids (see [Plasmid] and

Useful Information about Antibiotic Resistance

Links

Aminoglycoside Resistance

This category includes kanamycin, streptomycin, gentamycin, neomycin, tobramycin, amikacin...

http://www.antibioresistance.be/aminoglycosides.html

http://openwetware.org/wiki/Kanamycin

Tetracycline Resistance

This category includes three different resistance mechanisms. Related antibiotics are tetracycline, chlortetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline, oxytetracycline, spectinomycin. Note that the TetR gene encodes a very popular repressor that is frequently used in synthetic biology simply as a single control element in cells that do not express tetracycline resistance. [Check this.]

http://www.antibioresistance.be/Tetracycline/Menu_Tet.html

http://openwetware.org/wiki/Tetracycline

http://cmr.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/5/4/387