MCR-1

This article is about the antibiotic resistance mechanism. For the yeast gene, see Mcr1.
E. coli, the bacterium in which MCR-1 was first identified.

MCR-1 is a genetic mechanism by which the mcr-1 gene confers the first known plasmid-mediated resistance to colistin, a polymixin and one of a number of last-resort antibiotics.[1][2] The mechanism, first discovered in E. coli (strain SHP45) from a pig in China in November 2015, was later found by independent researchers in samples from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Portugal, Denmark, and England.[3] MCR-1 is the first known polymixin resistance mechanism capable of horizontal gene transfer.

This is being called the latest example of a Tragedy of the Commons, an attack onto the world's Antibiotic Commons.[4]

See also

References

  1. Liu, YY; Wang, Y; Walsh, TR; Yi, LX; Zhang, R; Spencer, J; Doi, Y; Tian, G; Dong, B; Huang, X; Yu, LF; Gu, D; Ren, H; Chen, X; Lv, L; He, D; Zhou, H; Liang, Z; Liu, JH; Shen, J (18 November 2015). "Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance mechanism MCR-1 in animals and human beings in China: a microbiological and molecular biological study.". The Lancet. Infectious diseases. PMID 26603172.
  2. Reardon, Sara (21 December 2015). "Spread of antibiotic-resistance gene does not spell bacterial apocalypse — yet". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.19037.
  3. "More MCR-1 findings lead to calls to ban ag use of colistin". Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  4. "MCR-1: Tragedy of the Commons for Antibiotics". Retrieved 2016-01-17.
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