Antibiotic Resistance and Bacterial Cell Division

Antibiotic resistant bacteria, in themselves, already pose a deadly threat to the world. There are estimated 1.2 million deaths in 2021 due to antimicrobial resistance, making it a serious health challenge across the globe. In India, hospital surveys suggest that one sees a 13% mortality rate because of infections from drug resistant bacteria. It is imperative for immediate future research to identify new antibiotics.

Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria change and become able to survive antibiotics that were previously used to treat them. This makes it harder to treat bacterial infections, and can lead to more severe illnesses.

• How it happens?
  • Bacteria can adapt over time to antibiotics, changing in ways that make them resistant.
  • Bacteria can transfer resistance genes to other bacteria through horizontal gene transfer.
• What it means for patients?
  • The patients in the hospitals might require longer times here, expensive treatments, and more frequent follow-up visits.
  • Antibiotic-resistant infections may sometimes prove fatal.
• How it spreads?
  • Antibiotic resistance can spread in hospitals, farms, communities, and the environment.
  • Modern travel and trade facilitate the spreading of antibiotic-resistant bacteria across borders.
• How to prevent it?
  • Ensure only antibiotics are used only when it’s necessary.
  • Practice hygienic and sanitary activity.

Key Highlights of the Experiment

Antibiotics and Bacterial Cell Walls

• Inhibit bacterial growth or kill bacteria while not harming human cells.
• Bacteria possess a distinctive cell wall of peptidoglycan, which is not found in human cells.
• Peptidoglycan molecules composed of:
  • Glycans, or NAG NAM chain for the backbone.
  • Peptides that crosslink the NAM sugars to make a lattice structure.

Penicillin and Antibiotic Resistance

• Penicillin that interfere with crosslinks and are thus weaker points in the wall of the bacterial cell. Hence, the latter becomes lysed, bursting open.

Developed resistance by bacterial cells

• Enzymes (penicillins) as penicillins degrade.
• Alteration of its target, prevents effective binding for penicillins.

Research Insights in the Bacterial Cell Division

• Bacteria extend their walls by selectively breaking and reforming bonds to divide.
• Endopeptidases break the peptide cross links.
• Lytic Transglycosylases (LTs) break the sugar chains
• New Research on Bacterial Adaptation
• Dr. Manjula Reddy’s team of CCMB Hyderabad found that bacteria are capable of compensating through endopeptidase enzyme loss by overproducing the LT scissors so that they can continue remodeling their cell walls.
• And this adaptability helps bacteria survive against antibiotic attacks, thus making resistance complex.