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Antimicrobial resistance

Catching antibiotics outside the cells

Antibiotics are increasingly being detected in water systems worldwide. Long-term exposure to low-dose antibiotics causes Escherichia coli to remodel its extracellular matrix, limiting antibiotic access to the bacterial cells.

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Fig. 1: Biofilm evolution and EPS remodelling under chronic low-dose antibiotic exposure.

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Correspondence to Youngwoo Seo or Mudit Bhatia.

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Seo, Y., Bhatia, M. Catching antibiotics outside the cells. Nat Water (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-026-00609-w

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