Question

Knowing that nanotubes can temporarily transfer antibiotic resistance from one cell to a second cell, how might you select for a mutant defective in nanotube formation? Discuss one potential pitfall with your approach.

Answer 1

The use of intracellular nanotube is a new method which helps in cell to cell communication and hence it is able to confer antibiotic resistance by transferring from one cell to another. It helps in transferring the material to healthy cells. A nanotubes are thin membrane protrusions which helps in connecting the cells together and hence it helps with cell to cell transfer of various cellular components. The mutant which is defective for nanotube formation will be selected with the use of the antibiotic it offers the resistance to. The cells are grown in the media containing antibiotics it is resistant for and if these cells are not able to grow, they are not conferred antibiotic resistance. The transfer has not been successfully done due to the defective nanotube in the cell as it will not be able to transfer the antibiotic resistance gene and hence the resistance will not be conferred. The cells will start to die in presence of the antibiotic.

One pitfall for this approach is that the cells might not be able to grow even because of many other factors which might not be associated with the antibiotic. The cells might develop resistance by other means and might grow despite the defective nanotube and hence it might hinder the whole approach of use of antibiotic.