Updated: May 29, 2016 00:13 IST
[h=1]The battle against superbugs[/h]
... In the microbial world, bacteria often develop molecules against each other. This is the source of the antibiotics we use. ?But just because you?ve made a new antibiotic, it doesn?t mean it?s going to be useful forever,? says Dr. Thattai. He suggests that instead of copying the molecule, we copy the process that bacteria use to make that molecule. ?Bacteria have developed a sort of protein assembly line, like a factory. The pathways were not designed to make a single product, but different products,? he says, using the analogy of an assembly line that can make a car and also be turned around to make a toaster with minimal effort.
Now that would be a better weapon in a war with no permanent solution. Where all gains are temporary and where, as Dr. Thattai puts it, only evolution can be pitted against evolution.
