Correction: Discovery, biosynthesis and antifungal mechanism of the polyene-polyol meijiemycin.

Correction for 'Discovery, biosynthesis and antifungal mechanism of the polyene-polyol meijiemycin' by Zhen Jie Low et al., Chem. Commun.

Discovery, biosynthesis and antifungal mechanism of the polyene-polyol meijiemycin.

Produced by a newly isolated Streptomycetes strain, meijiemycin is a gigantic linear polyene-polyol that exhibits structural features not seen in other members of the polyene-polyol family. We propose a biosynthetic mechanism and demonstrate that meijiemycin inhibits hyphal growth by inducing the aggregation of ergosterol and restructuring of the fungal plasma membrane.

Clinically Relevant Plasmid-Host Interactions Indicate that Transcriptional and Not Genomic Modifications Ameliorate Fitness Costs of Carbapenemase-Carrying Plasmids.

The rapid dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) around the globe is largely due to mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids. They confer resistance to critically important drugs, including extended-spectrum beta-lactams, carbapenems, and colistin. Large, complex resistance plasmids have evolved alongside their host bacteria.

Inactivation or inhibition of AcrAB-TolC increases resistance of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae to carbapenems.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to study the contribution of the multidrug resistance AcrAB-TolC efflux system to carbapenem resistance in carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae and the impact of the efflux inhibitor PABN on this resistance.

Methods: Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and their corresponding AcrAB-TolC mutants, each carrying carbapenemase-carrying plasmids (pKpQIL-UK with blaKPC and pNDM-HK with blaNDM), were tested for their susceptibility to six β-lactam antibiotics according to the BSAC agar dilution method. MICs were also determined in the presence of efflux inhibitors.

Functional genomics to identify the factors contributing to successful persistence and global spread of an antibiotic resistance plasmid.

Background: The spread of bacterial plasmids is an increasing global problem contributing to the widespread dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes including β-lactamases. Our understanding of the details of the biological mechanisms by which these natural plasmids are able to persist in bacterial populations and are able to establish themselves in new hosts via conjugative transfer is very poor. We recently identified and sequenced a globally successful plasmid, pCT, conferring β-lactam resistance.