A resistance gene contains the information for the production of a protein that makes an antibiotic ineffective and hence confers resistance against an antibiotic to a pathogen.
Detailed description
Resistance genes are usually found on a ring-shaped piece of DNA, the plasmid. Like this, they can easily be passed on from one bacterium to another. Plants can possess resistance genes as well. They are usually directed against herbicides and pests.
DZIF scientist Dr Janko Sattler, a medical specialist at the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at the University Hospital Cologne, was awarded the bioMérieux Diagnostics Prize
There are a number of factors responsible for the development of antibiotic resistance. So far, the interactions between pathogens and the complex microbial colonisation (microbiota) of the human body under the selection pressure of antibiotic treatment play a little studied and underestimated role ...
Every year at least 700,000 people die as a result of infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria—a figure which according to WHO forecasts could rise to ten million people by 2050 without new
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Colistin is a last-line reserve antibiotic for the treatment of infections caused by extremely multidrug-resistant (XDR) Gram-negative bacteria. The recent emergence and global spread of the mobile
Scanning electron micrograph: C. difficile cells were provided by Nicole Metzendorf from the Department of Microbial Physiology and Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology, and imaged by Rabea Schlüter, Imaging Center of the Department of Biology, University of Greifswald, Germany.
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Infections with the bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile for short) frequently recur due to permanent stages remaining in the intestine. A drug that also effectively combats the permanent
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Dr. Victoria Ingham from Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) is investigating the potential dual effect of a new insecticide for mosquito nets. The
