Role of Bacteriophages and Plasmids in Antibiotic Resistance Gene Transfer - Review Article

Abstract

Introduction: The constant increase in the antibiotic resistance poses substantial threat to the human health, increase ion health care costs and serious complications in treating bacterial infections. Purposes of the review is to investigate the mechanisms through which bacteriophages and plasmid help in acquiring antibiotic resistance in bacteria the transfer of resistance. And to assess the effects of these processes for the possible control of resistance in bacteria.  

Literature Review and Result Comparison: The Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in bacterial populations are transmitted through two main sources that are Bacteriophages and plasmids. Through transduction, Bacteriophages facilitate horizontal gene transfer (HGT) at much higher frequencies that result in evolutionary resistant strains, while to spread antibiotic resistance across and within bacterial species the plasmids play a key role. Tandem Duplication along with maintenance of plasmid copy number results in hetero resistance which results in multidrug resistance.

Conclusion Understanding the ways to cope with transfer of plasmid and mechanisms of bacteriophage inactivation can reduce risk of multi drug resistant strains transfer. Further studies and experiments are required to properly understand spread of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (ARB) and ARGs which would ultimately help in development of strategies to counter resistance against antibiotics.