Researchers find new tool to slow antibiotic resistance

Northwestern University microbiologists Luciano Marraffini and Erik Sontheimer report in an upcoming issue of Science that they believe they have found a way to prolong the effectiveness of antibiotics against the growing threat of lethal bacteria like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The researchers say that a mechanism known as CRISPR interference, which bacteria uses to block the acquisition of new genes gained from indiscriminate interactions, can also be used to stop MRSA from spreading resistance to antibiotics.

"The cool thing about CRISPR is that it provides acquired immunity," Rotem Sorked, a molecular biologist at Weizmann Institute of Science tells New Scientist. "Bacteria learn how to defend themselves against phage and plasmid infections - in a way analogous to the way our immune system learns how to fight pathogens."

- read the report in New Scientist
- check out the story in Genetic Engineering News

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