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To fight a pathogen that's highly resistant to antibiotics, first understand how it gets that way.
Klebsiella pneumoniae strains that carry a particular enzyme are known for "their ability to survive any antibiotics you throw at them," said Corey Hudson of Sandia National Laboratories in California.
Using Sandia's genome sequencing capabilities, Hudson and colleagues Robert Meagher and Kelly Williams, along with former postdoctoral employee Zach Bent, identified several mechanisms that bacteria use to share genes and expand their antibiotic resistance. They found that in some cases, bacteria can receive a new set of genes all at once and in the process become pathogenic.
To better understand how the process works, they focused on the large mobile DNAs, such as plasmids, which exist as free DNA circles apart from the bacterial chromosome, and genomic islands, which can splice themselves into the chromosome. These mobile DNAs are major mechanisms for evolution in organisms that lack a true nucleus. Genomic islands and plasmids carry genes that contribute to everything from metabolism to pathogenicity, and move whole clusters of genes all at once between species.
Identifying how genomic islands move and their effect on bacterial physiology could lead to new approaches to bypass bacterial defenses, Hudson said.
Eventually, the effort might lead to a way to predict new pathogens before they emerge as public health threats.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 20 2015, @12:39PM
Great link. Modern medicine isn't all it's cracked up to be. It has been observed that our hospitals, or more accurately, "regional medical centers" are excellent breeding grounds for pathogens. In the not-distant past, hospitals had windows that opened, and doctors liberally prescribed "sunshine and fresh air". Both sunshine and fresh air are detrimental to most pathogens, and it was readily available in the hospitals. Today? No sunshine, no fresh air. The air is recirculated, over and over, so that everyone shares all the same pathogens. A new patient comes in, his germs are quickly shared out to everyone.
As a young child, I was introduced to the concept of "clean dirt". The stuff you got on you while working in the garden is "clean dirt". Most of the stuff you are exposed to in your bathroom, as well as in public places, is "dirty dirt".
If being "dirty" was unhealthy, then campers, hikers, mountain climbers, and hunters would often come home sick. That just isn't the case. Most of those people come back home feeling better than when they left.
Got nature? It's good for you!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2015, @03:14PM
Modern medicine is why there are no more smallpox infections.
It is also why you won't die of the Black Death Plague.
Bone marrow transplants, heart transplants, HIV antivirals, cancer immunotherapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, ...
Modern medicine is amazing and it is constantly improving.