More and more
bacteria are becoming resistant to our common
antibiotics, and to make matters worse, more and more are becoming resistant to all known antibiotics. The problem is known as multi-resistance, and is generally described as one of the most significant future threats to public health Antibiotic resistance can arise in bacteria in our environment and in our bodies. This part of genetics ties into the lesson we have been discussing in lab the previous two weeks with splicing of
genomes. Antibiotic resistance-carrying plasmids from different bacteria can meet and exchange genetic material. The result is
plasmids consisting of genes that have each been adapted to different bacterial species. This facilitates further adaptation and mobility, and consequently also the spread of antibiotic resistance between different ba
[caption id="attachment_1542" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Transmission of Plasmids"]
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cterial species. This subject is strange to consider but also good for the scientific community, this will ensure there will be work for researchers. finding a solution to these problems will prove to be imperative to human survival, but I have faith the problem of resistance will be addressed.
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It is incredibly relieving that scientists are aware that antibiotic resistance is occurring in all bacteria. I'm pretty confident in the ability of our scientists to come up with a solution to this problem before it becomes too serious. If however, it did catch us by surprise it's frightening to think that our society would, medically speaking, be back where it was hundreds of years ago.
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