Bacteria are wizzes at developing resistance to our most powerful antibiotics. This unfortunate skill leads to millions of difficult-to-treat infections worldwide and growing fears that bacteria may one day become unstoppable. But these microbes’ evolutionary prowess can just as easily be their downfall, scientists reported last week in Nature Chemical Biology.(…)
Some antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones, work by effectively tossing a wrench into bacterial cell division, while others, such as penicillin and its ilk, sabotage bacterial cell walls, leading to a leaky mess. Still others, such as tetracyclines and aminoglycosides (eg. Streptomycin), foul up protein production in bacteria, bringing the microbes’ essential biological processes to a grinding halt.(…)