Important Notice: Our web hosting provider recently started charging us for additional visits, which was unexpected. In response, we're seeking donations. Depending on the situation, we may explore different monetization options for our Community and Expert Contributors. It's crucial to provide more returns for their expertise and offer more Expert Validated Answers or AI Validated Answers. Learn more about our hosting issue here.

Why is transformation an unlikely mechanism for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes among staphylococci?

April 26, 2017antibiotic bacteria Biology mechanism microbiology resistance spread Transformation unlikely

0

Posted

Why is transformation an unlikely mechanism for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes among staphylococci?

1 Answer

0

Posted

Transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the uptake and expression of foreign genetic material (DNA). This can happen either naturally or by artificial means in bacteria. The incidence of this process happening naturally in bacteria is very low (plus, only about 1% of bacteria are able to do it). Since noone is going to go out and artificially introduce antibiotic-resistance genes into staphylococci, its pretty safe to say that transformation is an unlikely mechanism for the spread of these genes among staph.