Drown Them in Their Own Garbage: a New Strategy To Reverse Polymyxin Resistance?

Purcell and colleagues offer new insights into a major mechanism of polymyxin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria (A. B. Purcell, B. J. Voss, and M. S. Trent, J Bacteriol 204:e00498-21, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.00498-21). Inactivating a single lipid recycling enzyme causes accumulation of waste lipid by-products that inhibit a key factor responsible for polymyxin resistance.

Automated summary

Purcell and colleagues have discovered that inactivating a single lipid recycling enzyme leads to the accumulation of waste lipid by-products, which inhibit a key factor responsible for polymyxin resistance.