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, 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) these molecules are oligonucleotide sequences

2) these oligontd sequences have sequence complementary to the bacterial DNA gene which codes for proteins involved in making the bacteria pathogenic. thus, the oligontd binding prevents the activity of this gene

3) using bioinfo tools, the genome similarities have been identified between the oligontds and the human genome, any sequence complementary to human genomic sequence is not used.

4) they used nanoparticles of liposomes which encapsulate the oligontds , they have external structure similar to plasma membrane structures, thus these nanoparticles are taken up by the bacteria. causing its inhibition

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