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MUSC makes major advance in understanding antibiotic resistance Major progress was made in the understanding of the propagation of drug resistance plasmids that cause emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria that are a major public health problem. Results of research by MUSC researchers were published Dec. 22 in the prestigious journal, Molecular Cell.   Dr. Deepak Bastia Deepak Bastia, Ph.D., Donnelley Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and his associate Shamsu Zzaman, Ph.D., succeeded in propagating the plasmid (a small, self-replicating circular double stranded DNA that carries the drug resistance genes and multiplies inside bacterial cells) in a purified system of proteins and cofactors in the test tube. They showed that long-range interaction of two widely-spaced regions of DNA controls the propagation of the drug resistance plasmids.   “With many bacteria becoming rapidly resistant to all available antibiotics, other drugs developed from the knowledge of the mechanism of duplication of the plasmids will be essential to kill antibiotic resistance plasmids,” said Bastia. “Our fundamental work on the mechanism of duplication of the plasmids is a stepping stone to the development of effective drugs to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections.”   This is the first paper from MUSC published in this prestigious journal.   Friday, Jan. 6, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to  catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.