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NEW DELHI: A "highly rare genetic fusion" between two previously-known antibiotic-resistant genes gave birth to the dangerous Indian superbug metallo-beta-lactamase, NDM1.
This fusion also gave NDM1 the power to easily jump between various species of bacteria at superfast speed and consequently making them drug resistant too.
British scientists, who first reported the NDM1 last year, have now found through genetic DNA studies that NDM1 - by jumping between bacteria strains - can make several diseases they cause in humans, resistant to known antibiotics.
The latest study published in the medical journal, "Antimicrobial Agents andChemotherapy", also dismisses the argument that the superbug NDM1 has been in the environment for many years.
The study's lead author Dr Mark Toleman from the University of Cardiff said "We now know that NDM1 got created very recently and any ideas that suggest it is found everywhere and has been around for ever are baseless."
He added, "Usually the DNA of such genes change frequently. However, in NDM1 we saw no such change, hence it has recently been created. It may have originated from a bacterium in the environment that didn't harm humans. After the fusion, it started jumping from one bacterium to another making several diseases caused by them resistant to drugs. It spreads mostly through fecal oral route. It's a rare fusion event that gave birth to NDM1."
The team says that when they first reported the existence of the NDM1, it was isolated only in E Coli.
Now, it has jumped to over 20 different species of bacteria. The latest study says, "This is unequivocal evidence that NDM1 is a chimera." A chimera is a single organism that is composed of two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells originating from different entities.
Dr M C Misra, chief of the AIIMS Trauma Centre said that a stringent policy of sale and purchase of antibiotics and its usage in hospital setting is the need of the hour.
The study adds, "Carbapenems are potent antibiotics that are reserved for life threatening bacterial infections. However, their effectiveness is increasingly compromised by resistance. The NDM1 was unknown before 2008 and we have previously shown that it is widely disseminated in the UK and South Asia. We have also identified NDM1 genes in a broad range of bacteria isolated from the environment in New Delhi including the serious pathogens Shigella boydii and Vibrio cholerae. Possession of NDM1 confers resistance to all classes of antibiotics like penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem."
The scientists after testing Delhi's water supply had earlier said that NDM1 gene had spread to the bacteria that caused cholera and dysentery in the country.
The scientists had said the NDM gene was present in Delhi's public water supply used by locals for drinking, washing and preparing their food. Initially, it was thought to be hospital-acquired. Scientists made another important finding - the transfer rate (rate at which the NDM-1 gene is copied and transferred between different bacteria) was highest at 30°C - a temperature common in Delhi for almost seven months in a year, from April to October.
[video]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11854939.cms[/video]
This fusion also gave NDM1 the power to easily jump between various species of bacteria at superfast speed and consequently making them drug resistant too.
British scientists, who first reported the NDM1 last year, have now found through genetic DNA studies that NDM1 - by jumping between bacteria strains - can make several diseases they cause in humans, resistant to known antibiotics.
The latest study published in the medical journal, "Antimicrobial Agents andChemotherapy", also dismisses the argument that the superbug NDM1 has been in the environment for many years.
The study's lead author Dr Mark Toleman from the University of Cardiff said "We now know that NDM1 got created very recently and any ideas that suggest it is found everywhere and has been around for ever are baseless."
He added, "Usually the DNA of such genes change frequently. However, in NDM1 we saw no such change, hence it has recently been created. It may have originated from a bacterium in the environment that didn't harm humans. After the fusion, it started jumping from one bacterium to another making several diseases caused by them resistant to drugs. It spreads mostly through fecal oral route. It's a rare fusion event that gave birth to NDM1."
The team says that when they first reported the existence of the NDM1, it was isolated only in E Coli.
Now, it has jumped to over 20 different species of bacteria. The latest study says, "This is unequivocal evidence that NDM1 is a chimera." A chimera is a single organism that is composed of two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells originating from different entities.
Dr M C Misra, chief of the AIIMS Trauma Centre said that a stringent policy of sale and purchase of antibiotics and its usage in hospital setting is the need of the hour.
The study adds, "Carbapenems are potent antibiotics that are reserved for life threatening bacterial infections. However, their effectiveness is increasingly compromised by resistance. The NDM1 was unknown before 2008 and we have previously shown that it is widely disseminated in the UK and South Asia. We have also identified NDM1 genes in a broad range of bacteria isolated from the environment in New Delhi including the serious pathogens Shigella boydii and Vibrio cholerae. Possession of NDM1 confers resistance to all classes of antibiotics like penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem."
The scientists after testing Delhi's water supply had earlier said that NDM1 gene had spread to the bacteria that caused cholera and dysentery in the country.
The scientists had said the NDM gene was present in Delhi's public water supply used by locals for drinking, washing and preparing their food. Initially, it was thought to be hospital-acquired. Scientists made another important finding - the transfer rate (rate at which the NDM-1 gene is copied and transferred between different bacteria) was highest at 30°C - a temperature common in Delhi for almost seven months in a year, from April to October.
[video]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11854939.cms[/video]
