Quinolone tolerance in Escherichia coli due to defects in the adenosine ribonucleotides de novo biosynthesis pathway
Weiwei Zhu, Yuejuan Nong, Jie Su, Jingwen Yang, Lina Ma, Yunxin Xue, Dai Wang, Jianjun Niu, Karl Drlica, Xilin Zhao · 2026
Read Quinolone tolerance in Escherichia coli due to defects in the adenosine ribonucleotides de novo biosynthesis pathway by Weiwei Zhu, Yuejuan Nong, Jie Su, Jingwen Yang, Lina Ma, Yunxin Xue, Dai Wang, Jianjun Niu, Karl Drlica, Xilin Zhao (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13131326.txt.
Description
Weiwei Zhu and co-authors study, in twenty twenty-six, why some Escherichia coli bacteria tolerate quinolone antibiotics due to defects in a building pathway. Quinolones are a major antibiotic class. Tolerance means the drug stops growth but fails to kill. During screening with an early quinolone, tolerant mutants emerged with defects in a gene for making adenosine building blocks. A stable mutant lacking a related gene also survived quinolone exposure better. Yet the drug level needed to halt growth barely changed.
That pattern defines tolerance, not resistance. Adding AMP, the blocked product, reversed the tolerance. Gene activity scans showed the defect pre-lowered respiration genes. It also suppressed the surge in energy genes during drug exposure.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Weiwei Zhu, Yuejuan Nong, Jie Su, Jingwen Yang, Lina Ma, Yunxin Xue, Dai Wang, Jianjun Niu, Karl Drlica, Xilin Zhao |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 44 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |