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Researchers have identified a critical mechanism that allows deadly bacteria to gain resistance to antibiotics.
The findings offer a potential new drug target in the search for effective new antibiotics as we face the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and infections caused by bacterial pathogens.
The study investigated quinolone antibiotics which are used to treat a range of bacterial infections, including TB (tuberculosis). Quinolones work by inhibiting bacterial enzymes, gyrase and topoisomerase IV, thereby preventing DNA replication and RNA synthesis essential to growth.
They are highly-successful antimicrobial agents widely used in current medicine, however bacterial resistance to them and other treatments is a serious problem.