Open AccessA new look at antibiotic resistance
Author(s) -
Davies Julian
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1986.tb01866.x
Subject(s) - biology , antibiotic resistance , genetics , gene , antibiotics , operon , horizontal gene transfer , cloning (programming) , computational biology , microbial genetics , phenotype , chromosome , genome , escherichia coli , computer science , programming language
Since the discovery of antibiotic resistance in clinically important microbes, attention has focused properly on the profound medical aspects of this problem. However, studies of antibiotic resistance are of great interest in their own right for studies of gene regulation, evolution, chromosome structure, etc.; several resistance genes in clinical isolates are components of classical ‘operon’ structures. The construction of cloning vectors and gene transfer systems, particularly for interspecies studies, rely heavily on the use of antibiotic resistance genes, since these phenotypes can be used to select for DNA transfer between microbes, plants, and animals. Studies of the role of resistance mechanisms and their genetic determinants in antibiotic‐producing organisms have shown that these functions play important roles in biosynthetic pathways and can provide important genetic and biochemical tools for the rational analysis of antibiotic production.