Antibiotics kill bacteria and can be an effective treatment for bacterial diseas

Question

Antibiotics kill bacteria and can be an effective treatment for bacterial diseases. Antibiotic resistance is an evolutionary response by the bacteria to an antibiotic, where bacteria are able to survive and increase in the population if they possess a mutation such that the antibiotic is not effective. Then, the antibiotic is less successful against that population of bacteria. The British government has called antibiotic resistance a major national risk. In this article, Antibiotics Target Gene Expression http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1000153/ , the Chief Scientific Officer of ProCarta BioSystems, Michael McArthur, discusses a new antibiotic targeting gene expression.

Answer the following four questions based on this article. Be sure to put your answers in your own words and number your answers.

[1 point] What type of molecule is their new antibiotic?

[1 point] What is the mechanism that the antibiotic uses to kill specific bacteria?

{1 point] What prevents the antibiotic from killing human cells?

[1 point] How did they describe how the antibiotic might enter the bacterial cell?

Explanation / Answer

1. molecule is DNA oligonucleotide sequences.

2. these DNA sequences are complementary to the bacteria DNA sequence which is responsible for making the bacterial strain pathogenic. thus, when they bind to these sequences they inhibit bacterial pathogenesis initiation.

3. the bioinformatics tools are used to identify genomic similarities between human genome as well as these oligontd sequences. thus, any similarity in sequence of the tw prevents those oligonucleotides from being used as drugs.

4. nanoparticular liposomes are used to encapsulate these oligontds which deliver the sequence within the bacteria specifically. the outer surface of the liposomes micik the structure similar to that of membranes, thus the bacteria are able to engulf the liposomes and the oligontds are deliver within them correctly.

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