The Natural History of Antibiotic Resistance

The evidence is indisputable that resistance that tracks directly with antibiotic use. This phenomenon is a result of a failure to understand that antibiotics and resistance are the products of, and subject to, natural selection. Understanding the origins of antibiotics and their chemistries, the co-evolution of resistance and the chemical ecology antimicrobial substances is critical to grappling with the current antibiotic crisis and informing on new therapeutic options for the 21st Century. Essential to this understanding is an accurate survey of molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance throughout microbial communities. Some of our efforts to explore this chemical and genetic diversity will be described, with particular attention to the rifamycin class of antibiotics.