Q1. Why does “mutation to resistance” occur within a short period in some cases (e.g. beta lactams) and over a period of decades in other cases (e.g. vancomycin)?
Q2. There is a discovery void in antibiotic development. Discuss two important reasons for this gap.
Q3. Define quorum sensing (QS). The Hsio et al. 2014 Nature article discusses interspecies QS between a commensal and a pathogen. Do you think this example of QS fosters competition or collaboration? Explain.
Q4. A new bacterium from a recent hospital outbreak has been isolated from patients and based on deep sequencing results, it is closely related to Acinetobacter baumannii, a Gram-negative,
opportunistic, nosocomial (hospital-acquired) pathogen that is able to colonize upper respiratory tracts of patients in intensive-care units, causing pneumonia. You name the newly discovered strain Acinetobacter newbie, and alarmingly, find that it is multidrug resistant.