Cloning, expression and purification of KPC-66 carbapenemase.

• Grant number: 22/16277-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biophysics - Molecular Biophysics
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Ferreira Marcondes Machado
• Grantee: Mayara Hidalgo de Almeida
• Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Farmacologia (INFAR). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Due to the emergence of bacteria resistant to current antibiotics, the development of new antibiotics remains one of the greatest challenges of modern medicine. In Gram negative bacilli, the production of ²-lactamase is the most important contributing factor for the acquisition of resistance to ²-lactam antimicrobials. The inhibitors developed for these ²-lactamases act in conjunction with ²-lactam antibiotics, however, a decrease in the efficiency of these combinatorial therapies has been observed, mainly through the action of variants and new ²-lactamases capable of degrading these compounds as well . The main objective of this project is the cloning, expression and purification of the KPC-66 carbapenemase, identified from a Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate with a differentiated resistance phenotype. This enzyme will be used in our group for biochemical characterization studies.