Chapter 1, Problem 5Q

Summary Introduction

To analyze:

The use of the given experiment as a support by the research organization to gain funding. The research proposed by them is the long-term research to develop a continuous pipeline of new drugs and antibiotics.

Given:

In the given experiment, the researchers use a serial transfer for propagating 1,255 population of Escherichia coli in gradually increasing antibiotic (rifampicin) concentration environment.

In the figure B the results of the experiments depicting the percentage of population surviving the antibiotic conditions are shown.

Introduction:

Antibiotic resistance is the phenomena where the bacteria can evade the attack by antibiotics by acquiring drug resistance plasmids and genes through horizontal or lateral gene transfer. The continuous feeding or the gradual increase in antibiotics provides the bacteria a path to accumulate point mutations, undergo genetic recombination and eventually end up becoming a multidrug resistant (MDR) strain.