Compounds that select against the tetracycline-resistance efflux pump
September 19th, 2016 by Laura K Stone
Nature Chemical Biology 12, 902 (2016). doi:10.1038/nchembio.2176
Authors: Laura K Stone, Michael Baym, Tami D Lieberman, Remy Chait, Jon Clardy & Roy Kishony
We developed a competition-based screening strategy to identify compounds that invert the selective advantage of antibiotic resistance. Using our assay, we screened over 19,000 compounds for the ability to select against the TetA tetracycline-resistance efflux pump in Escherichia coli and identified two hits, β-thujaplicin and disulfiram. Treating a tetracycline-resistant population with β-thujaplicin selects for loss of the resistance gene, enabling an effective second-phase treatment with doxycycline.