Journal ArticleDOI
Antibiotic resistance is ancient
Vanessa M. D'Costa,Christine E. King,Lindsay Kalan,Mariya Morar,Wilson W L Sung,Carsten Schwarz,Duane G. Froese,Grant D. Zazula,Fabrice Calmels,Régis Debruyne,G. Brian Golding,Hendrik N. Poinar,Gerard D. Wright +12 more
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TLDR
Target metagenomic analyses of rigorously authenticated ancient DNA from 30,000-year-old Beringian permafrost sediments are reported and show conclusively that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that predates the modern selective pressure of clinical antibiotic use.Abstract:
The discovery of antibiotics more than 70 years ago initiated a period of drug innovation and implementation in human and animal health and agriculture. These discoveries were tempered in all cases by the emergence of resistant microbes. This history has been interpreted to mean that antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria is a modern phenomenon; this view is reinforced by the fact that collections of microbes that predate the antibiotic era are highly susceptible to antibiotics. Here we report targeted metagenomic analyses of rigorously authenticated ancient DNA from 30,000-year-old Beringian permafrost sediments and the identification of a highly diverse collection of genes encoding resistance to β-lactam, tetracycline and glycopeptide antibiotics. Structure and function studies on the complete vancomycin resistance element VanA confirmed its similarity to modern variants. These results show conclusively that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that predates the modern selective pressure of clinical antibiotic use.read more
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Molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.
TL;DR: Recent advances in understanding of the mechanisms by which bacteria are either intrinsically resistant or acquire resistance to antibiotics are reviewed, including the prevention of access to drug targets, changes in the structure and protection of antibiotic targets and the direct modification or inactivation of antibiotics.
Journal ArticleDOI
Natural Antibiotic Resistance and Contamination by Antibiotic Resistance Determinants: The Two Ages in the Evolution of Resistance to Antimicrobials
TL;DR: The study of antibiotic resistance has been historically concentrated on the analysis of bacterial pathogens and on the consequences of acquiring resistance for human health, but the studies on antibiotic resistance should not be confined to clinical-associated ecosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tackling antibiotic resistance: the environmental framework
Thomas U. Berendonk,Célia M. Manaia,Christophe Merlin,Despo Fatta-Kassinos,Eddie Cytryn,Fiona Walsh,Helmut Bürgmann,Henning Sørum,Madelaine Norström,Marie-Noëlle Pons,Norbert Kreuzinger,Pentti Huovinen,Stefania Stefani,Thomas Schwartz,Veljo Kisand,Fernando Baquero,José L. Martínez +16 more
TL;DR: The main knowledge gaps, the future research needs and the policy and management options that should be prioritized to tackle antibiotic resistance in the environment are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Antibacterial drug discovery in the resistance era
Eric D. Brown,Gerard D. Wright +1 more
TL;DR: The looming antibiotic-resistance crisis has penetrated the consciousness of clinicians, researchers, policymakers, politicians and the public at large as discussed by the authors, and the evolution and widespread distribution of antibiotic-resistant elements in bacterial pathogens has made diseases that were once easily treatable deadly again.
Journal ArticleDOI
Antibiotics and Bacterial Resistance in the 21st Century
Richard J. Fair,Yitzhak Tor +1 more
TL;DR: In this review the factors that have been linked to the waxing of bacterial resistance are addressed and profiles of bacterial species that are deemed to be particularly concerning at the present time are illustrated.
References
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