CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 4,517Antibiotic Resistance in BacteriaAntibiotic Use and ResistanceAntimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus

Tetracycline Antibiotics: Mode of Action, Applications, Molecular Biology, and Epidemiology of Bacterial Resistance

Open access
Chopra, Ian, Roberts, Marilyn·2001·Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
DOI 10.1128/mmbr.65.2.232-260.2001PMC PMC99026
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

SUMMARY: Tetracyclines were discovered in the 1940s and exhibited activity against a wide range of microorganisms including gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, chlamydiae, mycoplasmas, rickettsiae, and protozoan parasites. They are inexpensive antibiotics, which have been used extensively in the prophlylaxis and therapy of human and animal infections and also at subtherapeutic levels in animal feed as growth promoters. The first tetracycline-resistant bacterium, Shigella dysenteriae, was isolated in 1953. Tetracycline resistance now occurs in an increasing number of pathogenic, opportunistic, and commensal bacteria. The presence of tetracycline-resistant pathogens limits the use of these agents in treatment of disease. Tetracycline resistance is often due to the acquisition of new genes, which code for energy-dependent efflux of tetracyclines or for a protein that protects bacterial ribosomes from the action of tetracyclines. Many of these genes are associated with mobile plasmids or transposons and can be distinguished from each other using molecular methods including DNA-DNA hybridization with oligonucleotide probes and DNA sequencing. A limited number of bacteria acquire resistance by mutations, which alter the permeability of the outer membrane porins and/or lipopolysaccharides in the outer membrane, change the regulation of innate efflux systems, or alter the 16S rRNA. New tetracycline derivatives are being examined, although their role in treatment is not clear. Changing the use of tetracyclines in human and animal health as well as in food production is needed if we are to continue to use this class of broad-spectrum antimicrobials through the present century.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1128/mmbr.65.2.232-260.2001

Cites

318 of 318 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Many RPP determinants are located on mobile genetic elements, which may have facilitated their spread throughout the eubacteria via lateral gene transfer.

    “Accordingly, many of the RPP determinants are located on mobile genetic elements which may have facilitated their spread throughout the eubacteria via lateral gene transfer events (reviewed in reference 10).”

    From Ribosomal Protection Proteins and Their Mechanism ofTetracyclineResistance (2003) · cites this paper as [10]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. [67]67. Edlind, T. D. 1991. Protein synthesis as a target for antiprotozoal drugs, p. 569-586. In G. Coombs and M. North (ed.), Biochemical protozoology. Taylor & Francis, London, United Kingdom.
  2. [78]78. Franklin, T. J. 1966. Mode of action of the tetracyclines, p. 192-212 In B. A. Newton and P. E. Reynolds (ed.), Biochemical studies of antimicrobial drugs. Sixteenth Symposium of the Society for General Microbiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  3. [83]83. Georgetown University Center for Food and Nutrition Policy 1999. Antibiotic use in animals: food safety and risk assessment. Conference proceedings. Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
  4. [100]100. Hlavka, J. J., G. A. Ellestad, and I. Chopra. 1992. Tetracyclines, p. 331-346. In J. I. Kroschwitz and M. Howe-Grant (ed.), Kirk-Othmer encyclopedia of chemical technology, 4th ed, vol. 3. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y.
  5. [222]222. Roberts, M. C. 1989. Gene transfer in the urogenital and respiratory tract, p. 347-375. In S. Levy and R. V. Miller (ed.), Gene transfer in the environment. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York, N.Y.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Chopra, I., & Roberts, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Leeds (GB)
  • University of Washington (US)
ORCID
Roberts, Marilyn
Venue
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Published
2001-06
Volume
65
Issue
2
Pages
232-260
ISSN
  • 1092-2172 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-5557
DOI
10.1128/mmbr.65.2.232-260.2001
PMC
PMC99026
OpenAlex
W2113790776
Cited by
4,517
References
318
Citations by year
2026: 251 · 2025: 270 · 2024: 325 · 2023: 289 · 2022: 319 · 2021: 338 · 2020: 321 · 2019: 260 · 2018: 230 · 2017: 209 · 2016: 205 · 2015: 189 · 2014: 172 · 2013: 143 · 2012: 120
FWCI
5.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology › Antibiotic Use and Resistance
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus
Keywords
tetracycline, antibiotic resistance, tetracycline resistance genes, efflux pumps, ribosomal protection proteins, mobile genetic elements, plasmids, transposable elements, outer membrane porins, 16S rRNA mutations, Shigella dysenteriae, growth promoters, antimicrobial resistance epidemiology, tetracycline derivatives, molecular detection of resistance
MeSH terms
Animals, Animal Husbandry, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Bacterial Infections, Humans, Structure-Activity Relationship, Tetracycline Resistance, Tetracyclines, Molecular Structure

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review