Studies conducted at INSERM on drug resistance recently published

Research findings, 'Evolution of peptidoglycan biosynthesis under the selective pressure of antibiotics in Gram-positive bacteria,' are discussed in a new report. "Acquisition of resistance to the two classes of antibiotics therapeutically used against Gram-positive bacteria, the glycopeptides and the beta-lactams, has revealed an unexpected flexibility in the peptidoglycan assembly pathway. Glycopeptides select for diversification of the fifth position of stem pentapeptides because replacement of D-Ala by D-lactate or D-Ser at this position prevents binding of the drugs to peptidoglycan precursors," investigators in Paris, France report.

"The substitution is generally...

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