A panel of genotypically and phenotypically characterised WHO priority Gram-negative bacteria to facilitate antimicrobial and diagnostic development
- 1Antimicrobial Discovery, Development and Diagnostics (AD3), Countermeasures Development, Evaluation and Preparedness (CDEP), UKHSA, Porton Down, Salisbury, UK
Abstract
Background Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria pose a major threat to global health. In the WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogen List (BPPL) 2024, several species were classified as critical or high priority for research and development of new antimicrobial therapeutics and diagnostics. However, access to well-characterised and clinically relevant bacterial isolate panels remains an unmet need for development and validation. Methods We constructed five panels of Gram-negative bacterial isolates, cultured from samples originally referred to the UK Health Security Agency Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections Reference Unit for analysis between 2014 and 2025. For each isolate, antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined against a range of clinically relevant antibiotics, including third-generation cephalosporins, carbapenems, colistin and other last-line antibiotics. WGS was performed on all isolates, and previously described resistance determinants were characterised. Results The five panels consist of 145 isolates and represent 81 sequence types across Escherichia coli (30 isolates), Klebsiella pneumoniae (30 isolates), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (30 isolates), carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (30 isolates), and a mixed panel of other healthcare-associated Enterobacterales species (25 isolates). Panels are highly representative of globally relevant strains, including those currently in circulation and on the WHO BPPL 2024, and of resistance mechanisms of public health importance. Conclusion The panels provide a diverse, comprehensive set of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial isolates, representative of strains currently in circulation globally. Selected isolates carry a breadth of important resistance mechanisms and are highly relevant to the current epidemiological landscape. The isolates and associated metadata are available to industry, academia, and other laboratories for use in developing novel antimicrobial compounds and diagnostic assays.
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BibTeX
@misc{soley2026panel,
title = {{A panel of genotypically and phenotypically characterised WHO priority Gram-negative bacteria to facilitate antimicrobial and diagnostic development}},
author = {J. K. Soley and S. Mushtaq and C. K. Hind and R. Adkin and H. McGregor and E. Sweeney and E. Hutchings and H. Mason and E. B. Breidenstein and L. Dawson and P. J. Coombs and B. Isherwood and J. M. Sutton and K. L. Hopkins},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.18.752562},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752562v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A panel of genotypically and phenotypically characterised WHO priority Gram-negative bacteria to facilitate antimicrobial and diagnostic development
AU - J. K. Soley
AU - S. Mushtaq
AU - C. K. Hind
AU - R. Adkin
AU - H. McGregor
AU - E. Sweeney
AU - E. Hutchings
AU - H. Mason
AU - E. B. Breidenstein
AU - L. Dawson
AU - P. J. Coombs
AU - B. Isherwood
AU - J. M. Sutton
AU - K. L. Hopkins
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.18.752562
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752562v1
AB - Background Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria pose a major threat to global health. In the WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogen List (BPPL) 2024, several species were classified as critical or high priority for research and development of new antimicrobial therapeutics and diagnostics. However, access to well-characterised and clinically relevant bacterial isolate panels remains an unmet need for development and validation. Methods We constructed five panels of Gram-negative bacterial isolates, cultured from samples originally referred to the UK Health Security Agency Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections Reference Unit for analysis between 2014 and 2025. For each isolate, antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined against a range of clinically relevant antibiotics, including third-generation cephalosporins, carbapenems, colistin and other last-line antibiotics. WGS was performed on all isolates, and previously described resistance determinants were characterised. Results The five panels consist of 145 isolates and represent 81 sequence types across Escherichia coli (30 isolates), Klebsiella pneumoniae (30 isolates), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (30 isolates), carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (30 isolates), and a mixed panel of other healthcare-associated Enterobacterales species (25 isolates). Panels are highly representative of globally relevant strains, including those currently in circulation and on the WHO BPPL 2024, and of resistance mechanisms of public health importance. Conclusion The panels provide a diverse, comprehensive set of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial isolates, representative of strains currently in circulation globally. Selected isolates carry a breadth of important resistance mechanisms and are highly relevant to the current epidemiological landscape. The isolates and associated metadata are available to industry, academia, and other laboratories for use in developing novel antimicrobial compounds and diagnostic assays.
ER -