A PERFECT STORM OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
Section 2
Drug and Antibiotic Resistance 9-15-2011
Back to Myth # 4
There is always some truth in a myth, but we seem to have lost touch with the reality that enterotoxin producing genes
damaging to human health can be transferred between bacteria along with antibiotic resistant genes. While drug is
used as a synonym for antibiotics there is a difference. A drug is a synthetic toxic chemical substance used to kill or
inhibit the growth of pathogens. An antibiotic is natural toxic chemical substance produced by a soil or water organism
to kill other organisms and purified to target disease causing organisms in animals (e.g., humans). A lantibiotic is also a
natural toxic chemical substance (bacteriocin) created by lactic-acid producing gram positive bacteria such as
Lactococcus lactis, Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, B. thuringiensis, and other Bacillus spp. Lactococcus lactis is used as a
starter bacteria in certain cheeses and buttermilk processes. It also produces a bacteriocin called Nisin used as a
preservative. On the other hand Lactococcus lactis has also picked up enterotoxin producing genes making it an
opportunistic human pathogen. Bacillus thuringiensis is used as a EPA registered pesticide on fruits and vegetables.
According to some researchers, B. thuringiensis cannot be separated from B. cereus at the chromosomal level. Not only
that, but the commercial strains contain three known enterotoxin genes HBL, NHE, and CytK which makes it a potential
opportunistic human pathogen.
Japanese scientists were the first to report on a sulfonamides drug resistant gram negative Shigella epidemic in the
1950s. The potential for drug resistant epidemics in the West was ignored, even as scientists were using penicillin to
isolate mutant strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. By the end of the 1950s multi-antibiotic resistant strains of
Shigella were epidemic in Japan. Undoubtedly, a contributing factor was the use of pathogen contaminated sewage
used as a fertilize on fruits and vegetables. Scientists who published research confirming the Japanese findings in the
West were met with disbelief and criticism. It just couldn't happen in the West. But it did happen when we started using
pathogen contaminated sewage products (treated sludge and reclaimed water) on our fruits and vegetables as well as
grazing land.
In this case, we need to recognize that drugs/antibiotics simple weed out organisms that are not resistant to the
drug/antibiotic and allow other organisms more food and room to grow. Many organisms produce two types of toxic
proteins, one that is toxic to humans (pathogenic) and one that is toxic to other organisms (bacteriocin). The bacteriocin
toxin may kill other organisms or it may only temporarily disable some organisms allowing the organisms to become
resistant to the toxin. When the bacterioin toxin is used by doctors, or in agriculture, it is an antibiotic.
According to D. Šmajs et al., Masaryk University, Brno, in a “Colicins - Lethal proteins of the family Enterobacteriacae”,
Escherichia coli and some other members of the gram negative Enterobacteriaceae family produce a bacterioin toxin
(lethal protein colicins) during their growth in culture. Šmajs states, “The production of colicins is “SOS”-inducible” and
“At least 35 % Escherichia coli strains appearing in human intestinal tract are colicinogenic, – Most colicins kill
susceptible bacteria by forming ion channels in the plasma membrane and thus depolarizing it”, he said. Biologické listy
62 (2): 107-130, 1997. http://www.img.cas.cz/bl/62_2_107-130.htm
More than 100 antibiotics exist today that were first produced by soil and water Actinomycetes, Fungi and other
Bacteria. Antibiotics from these organisms that were released naturally into the soil include, Abyssomicin C, Actinomycin
D, Amphomycin, Amphotericin B, Aterrimin, Aureofungin, Aureomycin, Bacitracin, Blasticidin S, bleomycin , Candicidin B,
Cefoxitin, Cephalosporins , Chlorampheniol, Clavulanic acid, Colistin, Cycloheximide, Cycloserine, Dactinomycin,
Daptomycin, Erythromycin, Fosfomycin, Fusidic acid, Gentamycin, Gramicidin, Griseofulvin, 5-Hydroxytetracycline,
Hygromycin, ivermectin, Kanamycin, Leucomycin, Lincomycin, Marinomycin A, MarinomycinsB-C, methylenomycin,
migrastatin, natamycin, Neomycins, Novobiocin, Nystatin, Oleandomycin, Oxytetracycline, Penicillin, Piperacillin,
Polymyxin B, Pristinamycin, Puromycin, Rifomycin SV, Ristocetin, salinosporamide A, Spiramycin, Staphylomycin,
Stendomycin, Streptomycin, streptothricin, Tazobactam, Tetracycline, Tetranactin, Thiostrepton, Trichomycin, Tylosin,
Tyrothricin, Validamycin A, Vancomycin, Variotin, and Viomycin
Next Viable, but nonculturable to Antibiotic Resistant Synthetic Biology