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MRSA Resistance: PBP2a Antibiotic Evasion Simulator

Interactive 3D peptidoglycan-wall simulator: watch beta-lactam antibiotics bind normal penicillin-binding proteins versus the low-affinity PBP2a that mecA gives MRSA, and see wall crosslinking, integrity, and lysis play out in real time.

Antimicrobial Resistance & Infectious Disease3DModerate60 FPS

Beta-lactam antibiotics work by binding penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), the transpeptidase enzymes that crosslink a bacterium's peptidoglycan wall. This simulator renders that wall as a 3D lattice of glycan strands and peptide crosslinks, then lets you dose it with a beta-lactam and dial in how much of the population's transpeptidase activity runs through PBP2a — the low-affinity enzyme encoded by the mecA gene that makes MRSA resistant. Watch crosslink density and wall integrity evolve live: at low PBP2a expression the wall collapses and the cell lyses once antibiotic concentration passes the MIC, while high PBP2a expression keeps the wall intact even at ten times that dose, exactly reproducing why methicillin-class drugs fail against MRSA.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D peptidoglycan-wall model: dose a bacterial cell wall with beta-lactam antibiotic and dial in mecA/PBP2a expression to see why MRSA survives doses that lyse a susceptible strain.

microbiologyantibiotic resistanceMRSApeptidoglycanbacteriaPBP2a

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install