1:00pm, Monday, 15 August
Via Zoom
‘Novel Mutations as a Driver of Daptomycin Resistance in VRE’
Adrianna Turner
PhD candidate, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity,
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Bacterial pathogens such as vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) that resist all antibiotics are among the top threats to human health. Infections caused by VRE are often difficult-to-treat due to numerous intrinsic and acquired resistance genes, leaving only a few “last resort” antimicrobials for effective treatment. Daptomycin is a new, “last resort” antimicrobial with a novel mode-of-action that is often used for treating severe VRE infections in humans. However, resistance in clinically-significant strains has surprisingly and alarmingly already been reported. The causes of such a rapid emergence of resistance as well as the underlying genetic mechanisms are not well understood. In this seminar, we will discuss an analysis of daptomycin resistance in a large collection (n=1000) of VRE isolated in Australia. Utilising a combination of phylogenetics and molecular microbiology approaches, we identified novel mutations associated with daptomycin resistance in VRE, with globally circulating lineages harbouring these mutations. Importantly, we uncover the therapeutic use of an unrelated, prophylactic antibiotic has likely led to the international dissemination of daptomycin-resistant strains harbouring these novel mutations of resistance.
https://otago.zoom.us/j/98929322137?pwd=VWRlR2xMTkRvSzhkVy90ZG4waFpqUT09
Password: micro
