Antibiotic Resistance: Role and Pattern in Different Class of Bacteria

Abstract

Microorganism can be able to sustain in any harsh conditions including abiotic and biotic (host’s body) environment. In this regard, bacteria were blessed with such dynamic and multifunctional cell wall structure. The cell wall of bacteria is essential for maintaining the integrity and also providing protection from the tough environmental conditions. Bacteria are differentiated into gram positive and gram negative on the basis of difference in their cell wall structure. Gram-positive bacteria have peptidoglycan, while gram-negative bacteria possess lipopolysaccharide in their cell wall. Most of detrimental chemicals are also not allowed to enter into the cell through such a protective layer of bacteria. Hence, such blissful structure of bacteria is ultimately responsible for their death, since it is the target of most of antibiotics. β-lactam class of antibiotics targets the peptidoglycan in the cell wall of bacteria to inhibit their growth, even though there are a range of antibiotics available to target the different parts of the cell of bacteria. In this chapter we have illustrated the various components of bacterial cell wall and their targeting antibiotics.