Related topics: bacteria , infectious diseases , antibiotics
Antibiotic resistance
hideAntibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves via natural selection acting upon random mutation, but it can also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population. Once such a gene is generated, bacteria can then transfer the genetic information in a horizontal fashion (between individuals) by plasmid exchange. If a bacterium carries several resistance genes, it is called multiresistant or, informally, a superbug. The term antimicrobial resistance is sometimes used to explicitly encompass organisms other than bacteria.
Antibiotic resistance can also be introduced artificially into a microorganism through transformation protocols. This can aid in implanting artificial genes into the microorganism. If the resistance gene is linked with the gene to be implanted, the antibiotic can be used to kill off organisms that lack the new gene.
For more information about Antibiotic resistance, read the full article at
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News tagged with antibiotic resistance
Researchers discover a new antibacterial lead
Sep 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Antibiotic resistance has been a significant problem for hospitals and health-care facilities for more than a decade. But despite the need for new treatment options, there have been only two ...
Blocking the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria
Biology /
Dec 18, 2008 |
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It's as simple as A, T, G, C. Northwestern University scientists have exploited the Watson-Crick base pairing of DNA to provide a defensive tool that could be used to fight the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria ...
New, virulent strain of MRSA poses renewed antibiotic resistance concerns
15 hours ago |
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The often feared and sometimes deadly infections caused by MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - are now moving out of hospitals and emerging as an even more virulent strain in community settings and on ath ...
Scientists get up close to bacteria's toxic pumps
Nov 30, 2009 |
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Scientists are building a clearer image of the machinery employed by bacteria to spread antibiotic resistance or cause diseases such as whooping cough, peptic stomach ulcers and legionnaires' disease.
Study reveals why certain drug combinations backfire
Nov 13, 2009 |
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Combination drug therapy has become a staple for treating many infections. For instance, doctors treat extensively drug resistant forms of tuberculosis with one drug that breaks down the pathogen's protective barriers and ...
Death by light: Nanoparticles as agents for the photodynamic killing of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The increasing antibiotic resistance of bacteria is a serious problem of our time. Hospital germs in particular have developed strains against which practically every current antibiotic is ineffective. In ...
C. difficile hypervirulence genes identified
Sep 25, 2009 |
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Five genetic regions have been identified that are unique to the most virulent strain of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), the hospital superbug. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biolog ...
New drug-resistant TB strains could become widespread, says new study
Aug 10, 2009 |
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The emergence of new forms of tuberculosis could swell the proportion of drug-resistant cases globally, a new study has found. The finding raises concern that although TB incidence is falling in many regions, the emergence ...
Genes key to staph disease severity, drug resistance found hitchhiking together
Jul 31, 2009 |
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Scientists studying Staphylococcus bacteria, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), have discovered a potent staph toxin responsible for disease severity. They also found the gene for the toxin traveling with a geneti ...
Bacterial 'sex' causes antibiotic resistance
Jun 11, 2009 |
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Some disease-causing bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics because they have peculiar sex lives, say researchers publishing new results today in the journal Science. The new study helps scientists understand how ba ...
Aerosolized nanoparticles show promise for delivering antibiotic treatment
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
May 19, 2009 |
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Aerosol delivery of antibiotics via nanoparticles may provide a means to improve drug delivery and increase patient compliance, thus reducing the severity of individual illnesses, the spread of epidemics, and possibly even ...
Theory shows mechanism behind delayed development of antibiotic resistance
May 05, 2009 |
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Inhibiting the "drug efflux pumps" in bacteria, which function as their defence mechanisms against antibiotics, can mask the effect of mutations that have led to resistance in the form of low-affinity drug binding to target ...
Probing Question: How does antibiotic resistance happen?
Mar 05, 2009 |
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Before Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928, there were any number of unpleasant ways that bacteria could kill you. Countless women died from infection after childbirth, and a simple chest cold could turn into ...
Free antibiotics: The wrong prescription for cold and flu season
Medicine & Health / Medications
Jan 16, 2009 |
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With an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections growing, experts are warning grocery-store pharmacies that antibiotics giveaways are an unhealthy promotional gimmick. If grocery stores want to help customers and save ...
Structure mediating spread of antibiotic resistance identified
Jan 08, 2009 |
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Scientists have identified the structure of a key component of the bacteria behind such diseases as whooping cough, peptic stomach ulcers and Legionnaires' disease. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology ...
