biostudies-literature00470Unknown6(5)Fisher JFThe value of the β-lactam antibiotics for the control of bacterial infection has eroded with time. Three Gram-positive human pathogens that were once routinely susceptible to β-lactam chemotherapy-Streptococcus pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium, and Staphylococcus aureus-now are not. Although a fourth bacterium, the acid-fast (but not Gram-positive-staining) Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has intrinsic resistance to earlier β-lactams, the emergence of strains of this bacterium resistant to virtually all other antibiotics has compelled the evaluation of newer β-lactam combinations as possible contributors to the multidrug chemotherapy required to control tubercular infection. The emerging molecular-level understanding of these resistance mechanisms used by these four bacteria provides the conceptual framework for bringing forward new β-lactams, and new β-lactam strategies, for the future control of their infections.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicinea025221https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4852796biostudies-literatureβ-Lactam Resistance Mechanisms: Gram-Positive Bacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.PMC4852796Mobashery SFisher JF47falseβ-Lactam Resistance Mechanisms: Gram-Positive Bacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.The value of the β-lactam antibiotics for the control of bacterial infection has eroded with time. Three Gram-positive human pathogens that were once routinely susceptible to β-lactam chemotherapy-Streptococcus pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium, and Staphylococcus aureus-now are not. Although a fourth bacterium, the acid-fast (but not Gram-positive-staining) Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has intrinsic resistance to earlier β-lactams, the emergence of strains of this bacterium resistant to virtually all other antibiotics has compelled the evaluation of newer β-lactam combinations as possible contributors to the multidrug chemotherapy required to control tubercular infection. The emerging molecular-level understanding of these resistance mechanisms used by these four bacteria provides the conceptual framework for bringing forward new β-lactams, and new β-lactam strategies, for the future control of their infections.2016-01-01T00:00:00Z2016 May2024-11-08T18:29:12.944Z2019-06-06T15:45:59ZS-EPMC48527962709194310.1101/cshperspect.a025221