In: Anatomy and Physiology
Describe the interaction between bacteria, antibiotics, and iron.
Ans:
Not only cells interact among themselves, but they interact with other types of micro-organisms. These interactions are harmful to the host. Bacteria try to interact with cells in order to invade them. They bind to the cell’s structures and try to modify their cytoskeleton.
Hence, Antibiotic resistance can be transferred to the bacteria that cause human diseases, even if the bacteria are not related to each other. A large proportion of gene transfer between bacteria takes place with the aid a part of the bacterial DNA which is called conjugative plasmids.
Antibiotics work by affecting things that bacterial cells have but human cells don't.
For example, human cells do not have cell walls, while many types of bacteria do. The antibiotic penicillin works by keeping a bacterium from building a cell wall.
While humans obtain iron primarily through the food they eat, bacteria have evolved complex and diverse mechanisms to allow them access to iron. Bacteria need iron to survive and they must obtain that iron from the environment.