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Review

Origins and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

Julian Davies, Dorothy Davies
Julian Davies
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
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  • For correspondence: jed@interchange.ubc.ca
Dorothy Davies
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
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DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00016-10
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SUMMARY

SUMMARY Antibiotics have always been considered one of the wonder discoveries of the 20th century. This is true, but the real wonder is the rise of antibiotic resistance in hospitals, communities, and the environment concomitant with their use. The extraordinary genetic capacities of microbes have benefitted from man's overuse of antibiotics to exploit every source of resistance genes and every means of horizontal gene transmission to develop multiple mechanisms of resistance for each and every antibiotic introduced into practice clinically, agriculturally, or otherwise. This review presents the salient aspects of antibiotic resistance development over the past half-century, with the oft-restated conclusion that it is time to act. To achieve complete restitution of therapeutic applications of antibiotics, there is a need for more information on the role of environmental microbiomes in the rise of antibiotic resistance. In particular, creative approaches to the discovery of novel antibiotics and their expedited and controlled introduction to therapy are obligatory.

  • Copyright © 2010 American Society for Microbiology
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Origins and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
Julian Davies, Dorothy Davies
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews Aug 2010, 74 (3) 417-433; DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00016-10

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Origins and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
Julian Davies, Dorothy Davies
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews Aug 2010, 74 (3) 417-433; DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00016-10
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  • Top
  • Article
    • SUMMARY
    • INTRODUCTION
    • A LITTLE ANTIBIOTIC HISTORY
    • SUPERBUGS AND SUPERRESISTANCE
    • MECHANISMS AND ORIGINS OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
    • GENETICS OF RESISTANCE
    • ECOLOGICAL ROLES OF ANTIBIOTICS AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
    • HOW TO CONTROL OR REDUCE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE DEVELOPMENT
    • CONCLUSIONS
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • REFERENCES
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KEYWORDS

Drug Resistance, Microbial
Evolution, Molecular

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