Antibiodic Resistance

Bacteria becoming immune from our antibiodics through the process of natural selection. What are some possible applications for this phenomenon and what are some ways to stop it?

 

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Stopping: no way besides not using the antibiotics. Usually the resistances are the result of simple point mutations.

 

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Bioremediation is an area in which microbiologists have tried to use bacterial evolution to their advantage. The idea is to use selective growth conditions and natural selection to “forcibly evolve” bacteria that can degrade toxic spills and contaminants of various types. Genetic engineering has also been applied to the problem. Ideally the bacteria would be dependant on the contaminant for survival such that they would die off once they had finished degrading a contaminated site.

This idea has been around for a long time but I don’t know if the vision has ever been achieved with any substantial success. Has it? To me it’s always sounded a bit like the microbiological world’s version of gene therapy – a largely unrealised inspiration.

 

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bioremediation and antibiotic resistance are two different things.

 

I'm actually allergic to all forms of antibiotics, I don't know why but I have no idea why my body reacts in hives and swollen eyes, even meat that has antibodies in it tampers with my body

 

Did I say they are the same thing?

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All I said was:

I did not try to link that to the evolution of antibiotic resistance.

The first half of the question has been answered and I am unable to answer the second part. So, in the absence of any offerings as to how scientists might use the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance through natural selection to their advantage, I offered an instance of scientists using the natural selection of other traits to their advantage.

 

Program bacteria to kill bacteria indiscriminately, well...no suicide.

 

there is only two ways to deal with antibotic resistant bacteria. The first is with stronger drugs, which is what is currently being used to treat things like MRSA and Antibotic resistant TB. The other way is to work out a different way to atack them for instance mechanical or chemical atack mechanisiums rather than biological. That being said i havent herd of any of these being effective YET. The main one i know about on the market isnt even aimed at a bacteria its aimed at viruses. Its a vicks brand product designed to atack the cold viruses (or is it viri?) mechanically by incaptualiting the free floating virus itself in the nose in a chemical shell which can be easerly drained from the nose down into the stomic, there by preventing further disease progression. However it an over the counter non PBS nasal spray and i havent herd of any efficasy studies carried out on it so its hard to say difinitivly if it works or not.

The oviousy effective one is achole, where bacteria and viruses have become resistant to bleach and other disinfectents they seem compleatly unable to adapt to achole. The problem is that it cant be used as an internal treatment because the levels required would be VERY toxic to us.

The most promising resurch in this area is probably in nano tech. However this is years away and may not work in all instances. for instance in the case of a virus like HIV where the very cells infected are those designed to fight the infection

 

Asguard, you haven't heard of any chemical treatments for bacterial infection? How about, I don't know, antibiotics?

 

Well here's one. There are scientists working out on how to extract a certain kind of chemical from the skin of a kind of frog. What the chemical does is when it makes contact to the cell wall of a bacteria, and only bacteria, it actually dissolves it like acid because of the fact that the poison is basically the same formula as the cell wall is with a little tweaking. The idea is that the bacteria cannot become immune to this, because the protein that the poison works on is a base protein meaning that it is absolutely necessary for survival of the bacteria and it cannot become mutated without instant death. So the poison is impossible to mutate to.

 

Link? If it is binding to a site on the protein, that site may be able to mutate in such a way that overall structure is held maintained, but the binding site is altered. Perhaps not likely, but certainly not impossible. However, we'd need to see a little more info.

 

your right of course idle minds. I was ignoring antibotics because they can oviously be overcome

 

The binding site is basically the only protein that can be used for that specific job. It holds parts of the wall together like glue, there is nothing better for the job. It won't be mutated because without it the bacteria cannot exist.

 

You seem to think that mutation of a particular gene removes the protein from existence. This is definitely not the case.

 

As has been mentioned, the process of bacterial resistance can not be stopped. All we can do is continue to develop new antibiotics and alter our existing ones in ways that combat the methods used by the bacteria to confer resistance.

 

I have heard about Bacteriophage treatment as an alternative to antibiotics. Use a virus that only attacks prokaryotic bacteria. Would it be possible for bacteria to become resistant to a virus?

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bacteria? hmmm...their phospholipid bilayer has to be modified somehow.

 

They could through random mutation develop a protein that will inhibit the virus' ability to attach itself to the membrane. I hate germs.

 

random mutation? why wait...genetically ingeneer the cells.

 

I'm talking about the bacteria.