Antibiotics, Resistome and Resistance Mechanisms: A Bacterial Perspective

Bacterial infections continue to be one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Fallout of excessive and imprudent antibiotic use, widespread dissemination of resistant determinants as part of MGEs has increased the rate of resistance development. Being capable to relocate between host genomes, they act as vehicles for resistance gene acquisition and their successive propagation. Thorough molecular studies have identified several mechanisms in microbes to attain the antimicrobial resistance. Among these mechanisms, plasmids, transposons, insertion sequences, integrons, ICEs and bacterial Toxin Anti-toxin systems have exposed how and why resistance has attained alarming stage. The possibility for recombination of genes from different bacterial populations is huge and it seems that it doesn’t take bacteria much time to acquire the genetic resources to flourish in surroundings that would have otherwise hindered it’s growth. Occurring with increasing frequency, resistance limits therapeutic option, resulting in the cases where certain human infections cannot be treated. Pertinently, where there is stiff resistance on the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice, scientists of the health care organizations are still searching as how to keep pace with the demand of actionable knowledge. This adverse condition of antimicrobial resistance demands the rejuvenation of dried pipeline for the development of new and efficient drugs to treat the deadly infection. With a goal to get hold of the menace of antibiotic resistance, it seems essential for everybody to have some basic knowledge about the systems in order to ensure optimal use of antibiotics from the surrounding milieu, to slow down the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Source: Frontiers in Microbiology