Transposon insertion sequencing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa identifies multiple intersecting pathways essential for extreme colistin resistance
Madeleine B. Vessely, Ryan P. Kich, Samuel W. M. Gatesy, Hanna K. Bertucci, Aliki Valdes, Clara Luczak, Shradha Rao, Artur Muszyński, Parastoo Azadi, Casey N. Kellogg, Brandon L. Jutras, John Mekalanos, Alan R. Hauser, Egon A. Ozer, Kelly E. R. Bachta · 2026
Read Transposon insertion sequencing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa identifies multiple intersecting pathways essential for extreme colistin resistance by Madeleine B. Vessely, Ryan P. Kich, Samuel W. M. Gatesy, Hanna K. Bertucci, Aliki Valdes, Clara Luczak, Shradha Rao, Artur Muszyński, Parastoo Azadi, Casey N. Kellogg, Brandon L. Jutras, John Mekalanos, Alan R. Hauser, Egon A. Ozer, Kelly E. R. Bachta (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-13552734.txt.
Description
Madeleine Vessely and co-authors map the genes behind extreme resistance to a last-resort antibiotic in a 2026 paper. Colistin is used when other drugs fail against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a hardy hospital pathogen. One clinical isolate shrugged off a colossal dose. The team scrambled its genome with jumping genes to find which genes the resistance cannot live without.
Twenty candidates emerged, and deleting them confirmed three quarters. Several sat in pathways never before tied to colistin resistance. One gene, renamed DpcA by the team, proved central: deleting it restored full sensitivity and reshaped the cell's outer coat, cutting the chemical armor that blunts the drug. Known resistance pathways also appeared. The authors describe resistance as several interlocking systems rather than one switch.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Madeleine B. Vessely, Ryan P. Kich, Samuel W. M. Gatesy, Hanna K. Bertucci, Aliki Valdes, Clara Luczak, Shradha Rao, Artur Muszyński, Parastoo Azadi, Casey N. Kellogg, Brandon L. Jutras, John Mekalanos, Alan R. Hauser, Egon A. Ozer, Kelly E. R. Bachta |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 93 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |