Antiresistance?
After billions of years of evolution and untold numbers of bacterial generations there appears to be only a finite number of genera belonging mainly to order Actinomycetales, producing largely similar types of antibiotics all over the world. It is hypothesized that this not just a result of limited number of susceptible targets or a transitory situation in the evolutionary process. It is proposed that there is some stabilizing factor associated with the commonly encountered antibiotics that alleviates the selection pressure to design new antibiotics. Synergistically acting molecules, an antibiotic and a component preventing the action of resistance mechanism is one way to stabilise the situation; perhaps the best known example of this is beta-lactam antibiotics and clavulanic acid. However, it is considered possible that during the extremely long evolution the Actinomycetes have also come up with metabolites preventing the actual development of resistance. These kinds of compounds, used along with antibiotics, could perhaps significantly reduce the ever-increasing threat of resistance among pathogens. This appears to be an unexplored area.
Nuotio
Lasse
L
Microbiology, Research Department, Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Mustialankatu 3, FI-00790 Helsinki, Finland. lasse.nuotio@evira.fi
D000192:Actinomycetales / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008957:Models, Genetic
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents