Answer this question in under 200 words. Please do not copy and paste from outsi
ID: 84303 • Letter: A
Question
Answer this question in under 200 words. Please do not copy and paste from outside sources:
Imagine that you have a spare $10,000 to invest in a company trying to create a completely new antimicrobial drug for infectious disease therapy. Company A is developing LipoSmash®, a drug that degrades all phospholipids and punches holes in cells. Company B is developing FimbriaeByeBye®, a drug that degrades all bacterial adhesive fimbriae and prevents pathogen attachment. Company C is developing GoAwayRNA®, a drug that degrades all RNA and blocks translation. Which company has picked the best target to attack? Why? What’s wrong with the approaches of the other two companies?
Explanation / Answer
As company A relies upon the quality of destroying the cell wall of microbes thereby stopping their growth, this approach is bactericidal where there is no harm to the patient.The bacterial cell wall is responsible for the maintenance of cell shape as well as other important functions Once cell wall synthesis is inhibited , enzymatic autolysis of cell wall occurs.Without the cell wall , the high osmotic pressure bursts the cell contents by bursting the inner or outer membranes.
Company B relies on destroying all the fimbrae required for their attachment in the host`s body. This will work in a different way, it will not kill the microbes, however these will stop them from attaching into the body of host and if the host`s immune system is strong enough , these microbes will be thrown out. But if the host is not strong enough these microbes can persist inside the body and by resistance these may act as slow attackers.
Company C relies on the approach of killing the microbes inside the body by blocking RNA synthesis pathway.This will stop translation and thus will stop the neccessary proteins needed for the working of this bacteria. Thus this type of antibiotic acts as bacterostatic i.e reducing the number of effective attackers by blocking RNA synthesis pathway.Or the worst case may be some mutation might enable them to regain their RNA synthesizing capacity ,starting the infection all over again. Often this mutation can be spread to the subsequent generations throgh reproduction.
According to me company B has picke the right target i.e not allowing to give the entry of microbes in the host body. The approaches of company A and C are good but they both rely upon the stoppage of microbes` growth , once they enter the body. It is just rightly said "prevention is better than the cure". So why not be attentive and rely upon the approach which altogether stops bacteria entry in our body , rather than allowing their entry and then think for the approach which reduce their number or stops their pathways , stopping their working.
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