a) Mutators are rare in nature, even among pathogens. However, they are frequent
ID: 134550 • Letter: A
Question
a) Mutators are rare in nature, even among pathogens. However, they are frequently encountered among bacteria that persist in chronic infections in conditions such as cystic fibrosis. Explain one type of selective pressure that probably leads to the emergence of mutator strains under these conditions.
b) Refer to Fig. 1 In the assigned article, "The Microbiome in Cystic Fibrosis." Can you conclude that exacerbation of illness leads to predictable changes in the lung microbiome? Why or why not? Explain fully,
c) From elsewhere in the article, does antibiotic treatment have a large impact on the composition of the lung microbiome? Explain.
Subject A Subject B 0.8 0.8 0.6 02 02 Collection Day Collection Day Subject D Subject C 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.2 02 00000000 ooo0O 00000 00 000OO0 0OO0 0O O0 OO Collection Day Collection Day Baseline-Exacerbation x oral azithromycin Oinhaled aztreonamm Fig. 1. Representative example of the heterogeneity between different patients with CF in bacterial community bation (black horizontal bars). Symbols below the plots indicate days when maintenance antibiotics were taken. Each plot ends on the day preceding the prescription of antibiotics for treatment of exacerbation. (From bility and at exacerbation. Microbiome 2015:3:12; with permission under Creative Commons Attribution License.)Explanation / Answer
Please find the answers below:
Answer a: According to the information, the pulmonary system represents diverse microflora during the disease. This suggests that the ambient conditions of the pulmonary vasculature are very favourable for the microbes to survive. This is because a controlled amount of oxygen and sufficient amount of moisture as well as nutrition is available to these microbes. However, the failure of medical advances leading to eradication of these microbes from the patients have made the pathogens undergo a gradual evolution which favors their survival in the pulmonary system. Furthermore, the fact that these microbes undergo rapid mutations makes it very difficult to eradicate them using antibiotics, hence they have undergone evolution.
Answer b: According to the information and graphical representation, it can be clearly seen that the pathogen microflora indeed undergoes a rapid change and increase in complexity. Hence, it can be deduced that presence of disease isindeed associated with differential microbial flora in the system.
Answer c: Unfotunately, these microflora have evolutionarily as well as individually, have developed robust resistance against most of the available antibiotics, hence using such therapies usually do not help to eradicate the disease. However, use of patient-specific therapy and multi-drug antibiotic therapy helps in imporving the physiological conditions.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.