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Microbial environments confound antibiotic efficacy

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Despite our continued efforts to assert control over pathogens, more and more bacteria are saying “no” to drugs. It is becoming increasingly apparent that microbial environments, influenced by intracellular and extracellular metabolic processes, modulate antibiotic susceptibility in bacteria. A deeper understanding of these environmental processes may prove crucial for the development of new antibacterial therapies.

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Figure 1: Microbial environments enable antibiotic resistance and tolerance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for BioDynamics, Henry H. Lee is at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,

    Henry H Lee

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for BioDynamics, James J. Collins is at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,

    James J Collins

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  1. Henry H Lee
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  2. James J Collins
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Correspondence to James J Collins.

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Lee, H., Collins, J. Microbial environments confound antibiotic efficacy. Nat Chem Biol 8, 6–9 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.740

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