Bacteria have two major enemies: antibiotic drugs and bacteriophage viruses, which infect and kill them. The two disparate threats may have something in common.
New research from Rockefeller University has found that certain bacteria have gained a gene that protects them from both toxic drugs and infectious viruses at the same time.
Because it helps the bacteria fight viral infection, the gene is beneficial even to those bacteria that have never been exposed to antibiotics, and as a result may be contributing to a faster-than-expected spread of antibiotic resistance.
Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria are behind a number of infections, such as sore throats and skin infections, and are even the culprits behind necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called “flesh-eating bacteria.”
But as scientists tried to track the bacteria’s movements by comparing samples from different infections, they noticed a growing resistance to macrolide antibiotics, a class of drugs often prescribed to patients who are allergic to penicillin. The new research suggests that a new gene in these resistant bacteria, called spyIM, may be the key to the bacteria’s drug resistance.
Whole article: "www.sciencedaily.com":[ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070227213956.htm]
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