Key genetic clue missing in fight against superbugs

For the first time, researchers have discovered how antibiotic resistance genes are spreading, at a continental scale, via bacterial plasmids in the hospital superbug, Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Analysis reveals key gene for bacterial infection

To successfully infect their hosts, bacteria need to evade the host immune system in order to reproduce and spread. Over the course of evolution, hosts—such as humans—develop increasingly sophisticated defenses against ...

How antibiotics spread resistance

Bacteria can become insensitive to antibiotics by picking up resistance genes from the environment. Unfortunately for patients, the stress response induced by antibiotics activates competence in microorganisms, the ability ...

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