Inhibiting fatty acid synthesis overcomes colistin resistance

Treating multidrug-resistant infections has increasingly relied on last-resort antibiotics, including polymyxins, for example colistin. As polymyxins are given routinely, the prevalence of their resistance is on the rise and increases mortality rates of sepsis patients. The global dissemination of plasmid-borne colistin resistance, driven by the emergence of mcr-1, threatens to diminish the therapeutic utility of polymyxins from an already …