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Bacteriophage-Inspired Antibiotics Although bacteriophages have been infecting bacteria for billions of years, no mechanism, has evolved in bacteria to prevent the viruses from lysing the cell walls of their hosts. Now, scientists are targeting the same bacterial wall components that bacteriophages do. The goal is to develop antibiotics that bacteria will be less likely to develop resistance to. FIGURE 20.22 shows the results of a study to test Epimerox, a new bacteriophage-inspired antibiotic, against Bacillus anthracis, the bacterial species that causes the disease anthrax. FIGURE 20.22 Effect of Epimerox on the survival of mice with anthrax. Mice were infected with the bacteria B . anthracis . One group of 15 then began receiving a drug-free buffer solution 3 hours later. Another 15 were treated with Epimerox beginning 3 hours after infection. A third group of 15was treated with Epimerox beginning 24 hours after infection. In studies with Bacillus anthracis cells grown in culture, no Epimerox-resistant cells were observed. Explain why this result is consistent with the scientists' goal for developing this drug.
Biology: The Unity and Diversity o...
Biology: The Unity and Diversity o...
Bacteriophage-Inspired Antibiotics Although bacteriophages have been infecting bacteria for billions of years, no mechanism, has evolved in bacteria to prevent the viruses from lysing the cell walls of their hosts. Now, scientists are targeting the same bacterial wall components that bacteriophages do. The goal is to develop antibiotics that bacteria will be less likely to develop resistance to.
FIGURE 20.22 shows the results of a study to test Epimerox, a new bacteriophage-inspired antibiotic, against Bacillus anthracis, the bacterial species that causes the disease anthrax.
FIGURE 20.22 Effect of Epimerox on the survival of mice with anthrax. Mice were infected with the bacteria B. anthracis. One group of 15 then began receiving a drug-free buffer solution 3 hours later. Another 15 were treated with Epimerox beginning 3 hours after infection. A third group of 15was treated with Epimerox beginning 24 hours after infection.
In studies with Bacillus anthracis cells grown in culture, no Epimerox-resistant cells were observed. Explain why this result is consistent with the scientists' goal for developing this drug.
To explain: The consistency of given results with the scientists’ goal for developing the antibiotic Epimerox.
Introduction: Scientists developed an investigational broad spectrum of antibiotic compound called Epimerox that can inhibit or block the activity of an enzyme called as epimerase. Epimerase is an enzyme found in Bacillus anthracis that is required to synthesize a polysaccharide in their cell wall. It is also essential for bacterial growth and for receptor expression. Epimerase is used as a model to produce the drug Epimerox. Bacteriophage-lysin enzyme has a capability to specifically bind with epimerase of bacteria and cause cell lysis. Bacillus could not develop a resistant mechanism to prevent the viruses form lysing their host cell wall. This was the idea behind to produce an antibiotic epimerase that could be effective against Bacillus anthracis.
Explanation of Solution
To determine the action of the Epimerox drug, the scientists had conducted certain experiments. The experimental groups of mice were infected with the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. The mice were grouped into 15 member groups. The first set of mice began to receive drug-free buffer after three hours of infection. At the same time, another set was treated with Epimerox antibiotics. The third set of mice was treated with Epimerox after 24 hours of infection. They observed the survival rate of mice of different groups, and the results were plotted in a graph (Refer Fig 20.2) showing the time (days) of survival versus percentage of survival.
According to the given studies, scientists were successful in developing a drug (Epimerox) with lower resistance potential...
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