Bacterial adaptation to antibiotics through regulatory RNAs [PublishAheadOfPrint]

The extensive use of antibiotics has resulted in a situation where multidrug-resistant pathogens have become a severe menace to human health worldwide. A deeper understanding of the principles used by pathogens to adapt, respond and resist against antibiotics will pave the road to drugs with novel mechanisms. For bacteria, antibiotics are clinically-relevant stresses that induce protective responses. The recent implication of regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) into antibiotic response and resistance in many bacterial pathogens suggests that they should be considered as innovative drug targets. This review discusses sRNA-mediated mechanisms exploited by bacterial pathogens to fight against antibiotics. A critical discussion of the newest findings in the field is provided, with emphasis on the implication of sRNAs in major mechanisms leading to antibiotic resistance: drug uptake, active drug efflux, drug target modifications, biofilms, cell wall and LPS biosynthesis. Of interest is the lack of knowledge about sRNAs implicated in Gram-positive resistance, compared to Gram-negative bacteria.

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