Bacteria feed on antibiotics
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Hundreds of bacteria in soil can thrive with antibiotics as their sole source of nutrition, Harvard University researchers reported Friday in the journal Science. These bacteria outwit antibiotics in a disturbingly novel way, and now the race is on to figure out just how they do it -- in case more dangerous germs that sicken people could develop the same ability.
The next step is to identify the actual genes that let these bacteria devour and degrade antibiotics.
Then the question becomes whether that genetic mechanism is something soil bacteria might be able to transfer to human pathogens, thus making them more drug-resistant.
