Question

• Antibiotic Resistance
  • What factors cause it?
  • How is it happening so fast?
  • Why are some drugs becoming obsolete?
• Horizontal Gene Transfer
  • What, how & why are bacteria able to pick up "Resistant" genes from other bacteria?

Answer 1

Antibiotic resistance: It is the ability of a microorganism to resist the medication used to destroy it. It helps the microbe to overcome the medications taken by the host and affect the host. It is an important stage of evolution in microbes that causes diseases.

Factors causing antibiotic resistance : The main cause is over prescription and over use of antibiotics. The excess use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock also favour antibiotic resistance. It can also arise due to the unfinished antibiotic course prescribed by the doctor. Reduced sanitation and hygiene can also favour antibiotic resistance. Lack of new discovery of antibiotics is also a reason.

Why antibiotic resistance is happening too fast : It is happening too fast due to the improper management of disease spread. When the prevention and control of the disease lags, it gives the microbes a chance to develope antibiotic resistance in an accelerated rate. Main cause of the acceleration of antibiotic resistance is the misuse of antibiotics and also its its over use.

Drugs becoming obsolete or useless : When the resistance developes, one person tranfers it to another person and it spreads so fast. This makes the disease difficult to treat and cure. Drugs are becoming obsolete or useless because of this antibiotic resistance and unavailability of new antibiotics. Excessive use of the antibiotics promotes the development of microorganisms which are resistant to this antibiotics. Those antibiotics are no longer useful. The antibiotic resistance can even lead to death of a person.

Horizontal gene transfer : It is a mechanism by which the microorganisms such as bacteria attain antibiotic resistance. It helps in the evolution of the organism. Usually genes are transferred from parent to offspring (vertical transmission) through reproduction. But in this case, the gene is transfered from one organism to another without reproduction. This mainly happens through conjugation. It helps in the transfer of genes across the genera which give raise to dangerous antibiotic resistant bacterial strains.

Bacteria able to pickup resistant genes from other bacteria : Resistant genes are transferred in bacteria by horizontal gene transfer, in which the resistant gene is transfered from one bacteria to another which can give antibiotic resistance to the bacteria acquiring the resistance gene. The bacteria can aquire the resistant gene from other bacteria due to the presence of plasmids. The plasmids helps to incorporate the new gene and replicate it. The process conjugation helps the bacteria to transfer the gene from one bacteria to another and thereby providing antibiotic resistance. Viruses can also be used to transfer the resistance genes in bacteria. The tranfer of the resistance genes helps the bacteria to spread the disease quickly and also helps them to evolve fast. Hence it can infect the host without getting affected by the antibiotics.