Program

Biology

College

Arts and Sciences

Student Level

Doctoral

Start Date

7-11-2018 4:15 PM

End Date

7-11-2018 5:30 PM

Abstract

The ancient bacterial disease of tuberculosis (TB) is curable with antibiotics, but according to the World Health Organization, in 2016 over 10 million people became infected with the disease. 600,000 of these cases were resistant to antibiotics, yet the worldwide treatment success rate for drug resistant TB is only 54%. Furthermore, strains exist now that are resistant to all known antibiotics. In the current environment of global travel, this poses a risk for emergent epidemics of drug resistant TB. In this study, I asked: after an antibiotic resistant strain has evolved in someone’s lungs, how does it spread? It is well known that a strain may be transmitted when an infected person coughs, and then another person inhales the aerosol droplets containing the bacterium that causes the disease. However, resistance may also spread by the movement of DNA directly from cell to cell. One way this happens is when the tiny viruses that attack bacteria carry genes back and forth between bacterial cells. I analyzed 67 whole genomes, and found evidence of recently acquired genes in 30 different places in the DNA. Many of the genes involved have functions related to antibiotic resistance or evasion of the human immune system. These results may open the way for the development of new treatments for tuberculosis.

Share

COinS
 
Nov 7th, 4:15 PM Nov 7th, 5:30 PM

How Does Antibiotic Resistance Spread in Tuberculosis?

The ancient bacterial disease of tuberculosis (TB) is curable with antibiotics, but according to the World Health Organization, in 2016 over 10 million people became infected with the disease. 600,000 of these cases were resistant to antibiotics, yet the worldwide treatment success rate for drug resistant TB is only 54%. Furthermore, strains exist now that are resistant to all known antibiotics. In the current environment of global travel, this poses a risk for emergent epidemics of drug resistant TB. In this study, I asked: after an antibiotic resistant strain has evolved in someone’s lungs, how does it spread? It is well known that a strain may be transmitted when an infected person coughs, and then another person inhales the aerosol droplets containing the bacterium that causes the disease. However, resistance may also spread by the movement of DNA directly from cell to cell. One way this happens is when the tiny viruses that attack bacteria carry genes back and forth between bacterial cells. I analyzed 67 whole genomes, and found evidence of recently acquired genes in 30 different places in the DNA. Many of the genes involved have functions related to antibiotic resistance or evasion of the human immune system. These results may open the way for the development of new treatments for tuberculosis.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.