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HEREDITAS(Beijing) ›› 2015, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (8): 793-800.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.15-092

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The roles of epigenetics and protein post-translational modifications in bacterial antibiotic resistance

Longxiang Xie, Zhaoxiao Yu, Siyao Guo, Ping Li, Abualgasim Elgaili Abdalla, Jianping Xie   

  1. Institute of Modern Biopharmaceuticals, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Eco-Environment and Bio-Resource of the Three Gorges Area, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
  • Received:2015-03-01 Revised:2015-05-12 Online:2015-08-20 Published:2015-08-20

Abstract: The increasing antibiotic resistance is now threatening to take us back to a pre-antibiotic era. Bacteria have evolved diverse resistance mechanisms, on which in-depth research could help the development of new strategies to control antibiotic-resistant infections. Epigenetic alterations and protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) play important roles in multiple cellular processes such as metabolism, signal transduction, protein degradation, DNA replication regulation and stress response. Recent studies demonstrated that epigenetics and PTMs also play vital roles in bacterial antibiotic resistance. In this review, we summarize the regulatory roles of epigenetic factors including DNA methylation and regulatory RNAs as well as PTMs such as phosphorylation and succinylation in bacterial antibiotic resistance, which may provide innovative perspectives on selecting antibacterial targets and developing antibiotics.

Key words: epigenetic, DNA methylation, regulatory RNAs, protein post-translational modification, bacterial antibiotic resistance