Scientists target bacterial transfer of resistance genes

The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae -- which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia and sepsis -- likes to share its antibiotic-defeating weaponry with its neighbors. Individual cells can pass resistance genes to one another through a process called horizontal gene transfer, or by "transformation," the uptake of DNA from the environment. Now researchers report that they can interrupt the cascade of cellular events that allows S. pneumoniae to swap or suck up DNA.

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