From Data to Action: Charting A Data-Driven Path to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

Antibiotics are often grouped by their mechanisms of action, such as blocking protein synthesis, disrupting folate biosynthesis, changing cell wall construction, compromising the cell membrane integrity and affecting DNA replication [93, 25]. These antibiotics, whether created in labs or found in nature, serve as the primary defence against bacterial infections. However, bacteria employ a series of strategies in response to resist these antibiotics, including inactivating antibiotics through enzymatic degradation, altering the antibiotic target, modifying cell membrane permeability, and using efflux pumps to maintain intracellular antibiotic concentrations of antibiotics below inhibitory levels [25]. Moreover, the gene transfer of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) further aggravates this challenge [92].