Theoretical Foundations of the Appearance of Drug Resistance in Soils

Abstract

Manufacture of many drugs is directly related to the cultivation of medicinal plants, and seeding with soil microorganisms occurs just at that stage. Microorganisms colonize plant roots and root hairs to form biofilms and symbioses, which induces changes of the phenotype reflected in variation of the growth parameters and specific gene expression. The ability of bacteria to form biofilms and of fungi and actinomycetes to form symbioses constitutes an essential pathogenicity factor. Analogous populations of microorganisms can be found in the gastrointenstinal tract of invertebrates, as well as of vertebrates and humans. Communities of microorganisms generate a common genetic system in the form of plasmids that are circular DNA molecules coding the behavior of biofilm and symbiosis members and determining their trophic, energetic, and other relations between each other and the outside. At all these stages, resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics, disinfectants, and synthetic compounds is developed.