RESEARCH ARTICLE
Mechanisms of Resistance in Bacteria: An Evolutionary Approach
Ana Martins 1, 2, Attila Hunyadi 3, 4, Leonard Amaral*, 1, 5, 6
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
Issue: Suppl 1
First Page: 53
Last Page: 58
Publisher ID: TOMICROJ-7-53
DOI: 10.2174/1874285801307010053
Article History:
Received Date: 3/12/2012Revision Received Date: 22/1/2013
Acceptance Date: 23/1/2013
Electronic publication date: 22/3/2013
Collection year: 2013

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Acquisition of resistance is one of the major causes of failure in therapy of bacterial infections. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), thousands of deaths caused by Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus or Mycobacteria tuberculosis are due to failure in therapy caused by resistance to the chemotherapeutic agents. Understanding the mechanisms of resistance acquisition by the bacterial strains is therefore essential to prevent and overcome resistance. However, it is very difficult to extrapolate from in vitro studies, where the variables are far less and under constant control, as compared to what happens in vivo where the chosen chemotherapeutic, its effective dose, and the patient’s immune system are variables that differ substantially case-by-case. The aim of this review is to provide a new perspective on the possible ways by which resistance is acquired by the bacterial strains within the patient, with a special emphasis on the adaptive response of the infecting bacteria to the administered antibiotic.