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Science 20 January 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5759, p. 299
DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5759.299i
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This Week in Science

Figure 1 A major source of antibiotic resistance genes is soil microorganisms that produce antimicrobial agents and develop a variety of resistance mechanisms as a way of selfdefense against their own toxic products. D'Costa et al. (p. 374; see the Perspective by Tomasz) show that soil microbiota also represent an enormous reservoir of antibiotic-resistant organisms, most of which do not produce antimicrobial agents themselves. The authors characterized strains of spore-forming bacteria and tested them against 21 antimicrobial agents--some in long use as well as compounds recently introduced into the antimicrobial armamentarium. Every strain was multidrug resistant and exhibited resistance to at least 7 to 8 antibiotics, and sometimes to as many as 20.

CREDIT: D'COSTA ET AL.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)