Antibiotic Resistance — A Survey

The study of antibiotic resistance determinants is an active area of investigation that covers many aspects of plasmid biology. Thus, there is interest in, not only the biochemical mechanism by which the determinants express their resistance, but also in the distribution, origins and dissemination of resistance mechanisms. The problem of dissemination is particularly interesting since antibiotic resistance provides a convenient marker for the investigation of transposable elements. Parenthically, it should be added that plasmid-encoded resistance determinants are key components of all cloning vectors used in recombinant-DNA experimentation 1and “amp” and “tet” have become almost bywords in the field!