Research Highlights Antibiotic Resistance from Random DNA Sequences

(Newswire.net — June 23, 2022) Orlando, FL — The scientific community has been carrying out studies to look into the rates of antibiotic resistance and how it is increasingly becoming a global health threat. 

A study was carried out by Swedish and American researchers and it has shown how new genes producing resistance can arise from completely random DNA sequences. 

The findings of this research were published in the PLOS Genetics journal.

Experts have long maintained that the most common way for bacteria to develop resistance is through taking up various types of resistance genes from other bacteria. It is worth noting these genes encode proteins that are called peptides, which can result in resistance. 

This happens by deactivating the antibiotic, lessening its concentration, and changing its target so that the antibiotic is no longer able to bind with that target. This, according to experts, halts the growth of the bacterium. 

It is worth noting that once resistance genes have arisen, they can spread quickly between different pathogenic bacteria. They also lessen the effectiveness of antibiotics. This is why it is vital to detect and characterize new resistance genes as quickly as practicable.

This could be helpful in monitoring the spread of resistance, facilitating treatment, and developing new antibiotics. 

In this research, the investigators sought to study the emergence of resistance genes. They did so through the use of laboratory experiments to investigate whether it was possible to come up with a gene from random DNA sequences, which would give rise to antibiotic resistance. 

They first designed almost one billion random DNA sequences that were then put on a plasmid in the intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli.

“We have now shown in two different studies that random sequences of amino acids can give rise to new functions that are beneficial to the bacterium such as antibiotic resistance. This suggests that the evolution of new functions from random DNA sequences is not as unusual as previously thought,” says Dan I. Andersson.

Andersson is Professor in Medical Bacteriology and is responsible for the study.

There are many ways found to be particularly helpful in warding off antibiotic resistance, and one is to lessen the odds of having UTIs. 

Antibiotics are often used as a treatment for this infection, and they are often misused or overused. There are certain remedies like D-mannose that may be helpful in reducing the odds of UTIs. This therapeutic sugar has been found to stick with and eliminate UTI-causing bacteria before they cause an infection.

Today, this therapeutic remedy is used through highly potent and pure formulas like Divine Bounty D-mannose (https://www.amazon.com/D-Mannose-600mg-Cranberry-Dandelion-Extract/dp/B01LX5KGF0).