Lost in Transcription-Inhibition of RNA Polymerase

摘要

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most widespread and persistent bacterial infection. About 2 billion people carry its causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a refractory, slow-growing pathogen that kills about 1.7 million persons each year, mostly in developing countries.'21 And more and more people in the developed world are contracting tuberculosis because their immune system is compromised (immunosuppressive drugs, substance abuse, AIDS). Together, HIV and TB are a deadly duo; each disease speeds up the progress of the other. In particular, multiresistant variants of M. tuberculosis (MDR-TB and XDR-TB) require new and more effective drugs. The evolution of antibacterial drug resistance in life-threatening human pathogens has been meticulously documented, and experts have warned time and again of a nascent public health crisis. Infections by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are on the rise, and related mortality has exceeded the number of HIV-associated deaths in the U.S.