Adaptive Antibiotic Resistance: Overview and Perspectives

Abstract

In reaction to the improved use of antibacterial materials, particularly in the 20th century, bacteria have developed mechanisms to surmount the efficacy of antibiotics and so become resistant. In fact, the evolution of the compulsive resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is great. Coevolution of microorganisms with environmental antibiotic materials has intensified the evolution of resistance mechanisms, which are usually classified into three types including intrinsic, acquired and adaptive resistance. Bacteria are either innately resistant or attain resistance to antibiotics in order to prevent access to drug targets, alterations in the construction and aegis of antibiotic targets and the direct change or inactivation of antibiotics. In adaptive resistance, the ability of bacteria to surmount antibiotic challenge without mutation is the focus. In this resistance, there is a transient nature. It occurs in response to some environmental conditions that are dependent on epigenetic phenomena for exhibition of permanent resistance. This review provides a summary of accessible information on adaptive resistance.