In this video from the American Society for Microbiology's Virtual Speaker series, you can hear from Marilyn Roberts, PhD, of the University of Washington on how resistance to antibiotics is spread around between organisms. Microbes that do not respond to the usual courses of antibiotic treatments are a growing threat to human health, and you can learn more about how some genetic features that encode for antibiotic resistance move around.
Roberts starts with a background and overview of the issue, and which bacteria are currently resistant to most antibiotics. She also reminds us that Nature warned that a simple tweak that would make common pathogens resistant to antibiotics would make said pathogens incredibly dangerous once again.
The types of resistance are also described - mutational and acquired. Mutations in the genome of microbes that provides resistance is often low level and limited, while acquired resistance is more dangerous. You can learn more from this interesting and timely 22 minute lecture.
