Cindy Kwok
Dec 30, 2017
Current Events #12: Bacteria Acquire Resistance from Competitors
“Bacteria Acquire Resistance from Competitors.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 27 Dec. 2017, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171227100042.htm.
I read the article called “Bacteria Acquire Resistance from Competitors” from the University of Basel. It is about how scientists have discovered that bacteria are able to acquire immunity to certain antibiotics through other bacteria. Bacteria have always been known to be develop resistance to antibiotics through overuse by patients for simple things such as small fevers. Hospitals are hotspots for activity such as this. However, the resistance can also be attributed to another cause. Some bacteria have been found with the ability to inject their competitors (other bacteria) with a series of toxic proteins known as “effectors” using the type VI secretion system (T6SS), a poison syringe. After fighting their competitors and winning, the bacteria are able to intake the genetic material of the other bacteria. This could potentially include some form of resistance to antibiotics that the bacteria did not originally have. At the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, Professor Marek Basler and his team used the organism Acinetobacter baylyi, a distant relative of the Iraq bug and found that “Some of these toxic proteins kill the bacterial competition very effectively, but do not destroy the cells. Others severely damage the cell envelope, which leads to lysis of the attacked bacterium and hence the release of its genetic material.” Many different types of effectors are made to ensure winning over the competition.
This article is especially relevant considering is is mostly due to our generation's overuse of antibiotics that many bacteria have developed resistance to many of the drugs that have been created to defeat the bacteria. Now, not only do antibiotics not have much effect but bacteria have been found to be able to absorb genetic material/information from other bacteria to gain even more resistance. With the rising fear of superbugs who have resistance to all of the antibiotics that have been created, this discovery is important for our understanding of how bacterias work. With knowledge of this information, perhaps scientists can start researching ways to prevent effectors from taking place. This would at least prevent one that bacteria get their resistance from.
The article had both some cons and pros to it. The article could work on including more information on the experiment itself. The article mainly took information stemming from the experiment but did not include details such as if there were multiple types of bacteria tested (or just the Acinetobacter baylyi) or how many times the tests have been performed. The article did good on showing how this information would be useful to know as well as describing how bacteria could kill an extract the genetic information from its competitors.
Nina Veru
ReplyDeleteAP Bio, C-Odd
Current Event 12
1/1/18
“Bacteria Acquire Resistance from Competitors.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 27 Dec. 2017, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171227100042.htm.
In the article, “Bacteria Acquire Resistance from Competitors”, the author discusses how scientists have discovered that certain bacterias have obtained a resistance to some antibiotics through other bacteria. In her review of the article, Cindy Kwok did an excellent job of explaining the information, making the discoveries easier to understand. Kwok explains, “Some bacteria have been found with the ability to inject their competitors (other bacteria) with a series of toxic proteins known as “effectors” using the type VI secretion system (T6SS), a poison syringe. After fighting their competitors and winning, the bacteria are able to intake the genetic material of the other bacteria.” I found that this statement made the information easy to understand. In addition, Kwok recognizes the importance of this discovery to our society today. In hospitals, antibiotics are often overused and this knew found resistance can make it easier for infections to get worse. In order to fix this problem, it is crucial for scientists to develop new treatments for bacterias. The author also did an excellent job of discussing the pros and cons of the article. For example, Kwok stated that the author should have elaborated more on the experiment, but did a good job of explaining the problem or bacteria resistance.
Although Kwok wrote an excellent review, there were some things that could have been better. For instance, Kwok could have had fewer grammatical errors. Kwok stated, “Bacteria have always been known to be develop resistance to antibiotics.” To be more clear, Kwok should have taken out the word “be”. In addition, I believe the author would have benefited more by using more quotations from the original article. By using more quotes, Kwok’s claims would have been backed up by more scientific information. Kwok used one quote which further elaborated on her claims. More could have been used to add more detail to her writing.
Overall, I learned a lot because I knew nothing about bacteria resistance to antibiotics. From this review, I learned that bacterias inject other bacterias with certain toxins, and obtain the genetic material of the other bacteria. Through this process the original bacteria now has a resistance to certain antibiotics that it once did not have. After learning this new information, I believe it is crucial to find a solution to this problem so that we can continue to fight certain bacterias.