The Development of Resistance to Antibiotics by Bacteria

Abstract

Antibiotic is made by microbes, thus the microbe producing a certain antibiotic like tetracycline must be resistance to tetracycline. Being resistance to tetracycline means this microbe has a gene that when expressed will either modified the binding site of tetracycline, an efflux mechanism or chemically modification of the antibiotic (tetracycline). This gene can be transfer to other microbes through vertical and horizontal gene transfer. Gene transfer in bacterium occurs through transformation, transduction, conjugation and combination. This paper focusses on resistance mechanisms and how they are transferred between bacteria. New technique to fight bacterial infection such as bacteriotherapy is becoming more common now due to the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.