From the moment of their discovery in 1940 up to now, the bacterial enzymes responsible for the resistance to antibiotics have continued to diversify and evolve. At the same time, research on beta-lactamases has helped us to understand how these enzymes work and to develop strategies to fight bacterial resistance. The book, co-ordinated by Jean-Marie Frère, summarises the knowledge acquired about these enzymes over the last 70 years.

In an article published by the journal Nature in 1940, entitled “A bacterial enzyme capable of destroying penicillin", Edward Abraham and Ernst Chain from the University of Oxford paved the way for the long and passionate history of beta-lactamases. Jean-Marie Frère, emeritus professor at the University of Liège, where he was in charge of the Center of Protein Engineering for many years, has now summarised the knowledge acquired on these enzymes over the last 70 years. Thanks to the collaboration of colleagues at ULg and other universities, he retraced the main chapters of the history of beta-lactamases in some 500 pagesof  a collective work that is part of the Molecular Anatomy and Physiology of Proteins series (1). “An American colleague, editor and head of this series, contacted me to ask if I would like to be the scientific editor for this work dedicated to beta-lactamases”, explains Jean-Marie Frère. It is important to note that the professor has extensive knowledge on the subject since he has been researching these bacterial enzymes for over 30 years.  Here is a brief overview of the stages that have marked the history of beta-lactamases and the fight against these resistant enzymes since their discovery up to the present day.

A highly transmissible resistance

As the title of Edward Abraham and Ernst Chain’s article already indicated, beta-lactamases are enzymes produced by some types of bacteria that destroy antibiotics belonging to the penicillin family. But these enzymes can also completely negate the effects of the cephalosporin, carbapenem and monobactam families of antibiotics, depending on the enzyme and antibiotic in presence. “All these antibiotics have a common structure called the beta-lactam ring (or nucleus) and, as their name suggests, beta-lactamases destroy this ring”, Jean-Marie Frère specifies. “By doing this, these enzymes render the antibiotic completely inactive. That’s how the bacteria that produce them become resistant to antibiotics containing a beta-lactam nucleus”. And the antibiotics in question represent approximately 70% of the antibiotics presently used to fight bacterial infections... While not all bacteria produce beta-lactamases, the characteristics that allow bacteria to produce them can be found in mobile genetic elements. This means that besides vertical 'mother-daughter’ transmission, the transmission of the tools required to produce beta-lactamases can also occur horizontally. The genetic material in question can therefore circulate from one bacterium to another, even from one bacterial species to another.

(1) Beta-Lactamases. Molecular Anatomy and Physiology of Proteins Series. Author & Editor Jean-Marie Frère. Nova Science Pub Incorporated, 2012. ISBN 1613246382, 9781613246382.