Researchers have found 76 previously unknown genes that make bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics. The genes were found while searching large volumes of bacterial DNA. The findings showed that several of these resistance genes can provide bacteria with the ability to degrade carbapenems- most powerful class of antibiotics used to treat multi-resistant bacteria. "Our study shows that there are lots of unknown resistance genes.
Knowledge about these genes makes it possible to more effectively find and hopefully tackle new forms of multi-resistant bacteria", said lead author, Professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. "The novel genes we discovered are only the tip of the iceberg. There are still many unidentified antibiotic resistance genes that could become major global health problems in the future," he said. The increasing number of infections caused by…
