International journal of biological macromoleculesNov 23, 2025

Using CRISPR to Target Antibiotic Resistance Genes in ESKAPE Pathogen Infections

CRISPR Gene Editing Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jan 19, 2026

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas technology shows significant potential in targeting resistance genes in bacterial pathogens resistant to conventional drugs.

CRISPR-Cas systems, including CRISPR-Cas9 and mini-CRISPR, have been applied to ESKAPE pathogens, which are known for their multidrug resistance.
Strategies like the CRISPR-regulated toxin antitoxin module (ATTACK-CreTA) have been developed to enhance the effectiveness of CRISPR-Cas in eliminating resistant bacteria.
Resistance genes such as tetM, ermB, VanA, and others are prevalent in these pathogens and can be targeted by CRISPR-Cas technology.
Delivery methods for CRISPR components include engineered bacteriophages, nanoparticles, bacterial conjugation, and natural phages.
Targeting resistance genes with CRISPR-Cas could potentially reverse the resistance phenotype of ESKAPE pathogens.

Simplified

Advancements in the treatment of antimicrobial infections have highlighted the importance of the CRISPR-Cas system in targeting resistance genes in bacterial pathogens resistant to conventional drugs. Various CRISPR-Cas techniques, such as CRISPR-Cas9, Cas3, dCas9 and the mini-CRISPR system, have been utilized for this purpose in ESKAPE pathogens. Novel strategies like Associates Toxin Antitoxin and CRISPR-Cas to kill multidrug resistant pathogens-CRISPR-regulated toxin antitoxin module (ATTACK-CreTA) and CRISPR interference refine CRISPR-Cas efficacy. This review explores the mechanism of action of resistance genes (e.g., tetM, ermB, VanA, aph-3, aac3, oxa23, blaetc.) prevalent within these pathogens and highlights the notable achievements of CRISPR-Cas technology in targeting these genes, thereby offering a pathway to sensitize resistant bacteria. This article also discusses various delivery approaches for CRISPR components in pathogens, mainly focusing on engineered bacteriophages, including phagemids, temperate phages and virulent phages. Additionally nanoparticles, bacterial conjugation and natural phages hold promise for administering the CRISPR system inside bacteria. Specific targeting of resistance genes in resistant pathogens via CRISPR-Cas based methods would pave a way for combating ESKAPE pathogen infections by reversing the resistance phenotype. NDM

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View Full Text ↗

Funding

Competing interests

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sushma Singh reports financial support was provided by Science and Engineering Research Board. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Using CRISPR to Target Antibiotic Resistance Genes in ESKAPE Pathogen Infections

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the crispr gene editing brief

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the crispr gene editing brief