Kelly-Rose O'Reilly

• MSci Biomedical Sciences
• Mecillinam resistance mediated by overproduction of peptidoglycan endopeptidases

Bacteria have a highly complex cell envelope containing the essential peptidoglycan sacculus, a mesh-like layer that protects the cell from rupture due to its turgor and that maintains cell shape. Peptidoglycan biosynthesis is the target of our most successful antimicrobials, the beta-lactams and glycopeptides, but the dramatic spread of multidrug resistant bacteria makes it essential to discover new antimicrobial drugs and to better the understanding of the bacterial drug-resistance mechanisms.

The overproduction of certain peptidoglycan hydrolases, required for the correct insertion of new peptidoglycan, increases the resistance to the beta-lactam mecillinam. This resistance is mediated by the stimulation of peptidoglycan synthesis. The student will screen for peptidoglycan enzymes required for mecillinam resistance, with the aim of decipher the underlying regulatory cell mechanisms.

Funding source: Newcastle University

Project supervisor: Professor Waldemar Vollmer