The Secret of how to prevent bacteria from developing drug resistance has been revealed in a new study.Drugs called bisphosphonates, widely prescribed for bone loss has been found to help in preventing an enzyme that helps in conjugation of bacteria, by help of which it derives drug resistance.
Many highly-drug resistant bacteria rely on an enzyme, called DNA relaxase, to obtain and pass on their resistance genes. Relaxase plays a crucial role in conjugation as it is the gate keeper that starts and stops the movement of DNA between bacteria durig conjugation.
researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have stopped the microbes’ ability to spread, among other advantageous mutations, resistance to antibiotics, by disabling the enzyme using molecules known as bisphosphonates
The antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria that were trying to pass their genes along, actually died when their DNA relaxase was shielded thus preveinting the spread of drug resistant bacteria andpossibility of more mutations.
The news is will bring fresh hopes at a stage when drug - resistant strain of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus infects over 1 million US hospital patients every year.
The Secret of how to prevent bacteria from developing drug resistance has been revealed in a new study.Drugs called bisphosphonates, widely prescribed for bone loss has been found to help in preventing an enzyme that helps in conjugation of bacteria, by help of which it derives drug resistance.
Many highly-drug resistant bacteria rely on an enzyme, called DNA relaxase, to obtain and pass on their resistance genes. Relaxase plays a crucial role in conjugation as it is the gate keeper that starts and stops the movement of DNA between bacteria durig conjugation.
researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have stopped the microbes’ ability to spread, among other advantageous mutations, resistance to antibiotics, by disabling the enzyme using molecules known as bisphosphonates
The study by Matthew Redinbo and his associates is published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
The antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria that were trying to pass their genes along, actually died when their DNA relaxase was shielded thus preveinting the spread of drug resistant bacteria andpossibility of more mutations.
The news is will bring fresh hopes at a stage when drug - resistant strain of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus infects over 1 million US hospital patients every year.
Filed under: DNA, DNA medicine, Genomics, bacteria, drug development, drug discoverry, drug resistance, genetic medicine, microarray blog