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Abbreviations
CRISPR
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Cas
CRISPR-associated proteins
FDA
Food and Drug Administration
crRNA
CRISPR RNA
Acrs
anti-CRISPRs
pre-crRNA Precursor CRISPR RNA
tract-RNA Trans activating RNA
dsRNA
Double strand RNA
PAM
Protospacer adjacent motif
6.1 Introduction
The emergence of antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic microbes has captivated the
attention of researchers (Caniça et al. 2019; Vikesland et al. 2019). Antimicrobial
resistance is a condition arising due to the microbial resistance to the medications
that once cured the disease or infection caused by the microbe. This results in inefficacy of standard interventions and persistence of infection (Prestinaci et al. 2015;
Dixit et al. 2015). Overconsumption of medications has led to development of bacterial strains that show resistance to the existent drugs and also to the unsusceptible
non-pathogenic species, which leads to the circulation of resistant genes present in
the environment (Nitsch-Osuch et al. 2016; Lima et al. 2019; Pinheiro et al. 2019).
According to the trend observed, the consumption of medications has a direct relation with the sudden elevation of resistance (Bell et al. 2014; Higuita-Gutiérrez et al.
2018; Auta et al. 2019). According to a WHO report (2016), around 4,90,000 people
developed resistant to multiple drugs prescribed against tuberculosis alone. The
indiscriminate use of antibiotics either self-prescribed or prescribed by medical practitioners has led to a rise in incidents of antimicrobial resistance. Although only 15%
of throat infections are caused by bacteria, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
reports that doctors prescribe a long list of antibiotics which are ineffective in treating the sore throat (Agarwal et al. 2015). Rampant use of antibiotics in animal husbandry is one of the key contributors for antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotics have
long been used as growth promoters and as a nonspecific mode of combating infections in farm animals (Economou and Gousia 2015; Founou et al. 2016). The incorrect and uncontrolled administration of antibiotics and drugs can lessen the efficiency
of antibiotics in curing an infection. Researchers have been working towards eradicating the problem of antimicrobial resistance using phage therapy, re-senstizing the
bacteria against antibiotics, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats
(CRISPR) and others (Nam et al. 2012; Czaplewski et al. 2016; Richardson 2017;
Pursey et al. 2018). Amongst these techniques, CRISPR is a promising tool to overcome antimicrobial resistance. This chapter gives an insight of how CRISPR-Cas9
system can be used in the management of antimicrobial resistance.
A. P. Sarma et al.
Abbreviations
CRISPR
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Cas
CRISPR-associated proteins
FDA
Food and Drug Administration
crRNA
CRISPR RNA
Acrs
anti-CRISPRs
pre-crRNA Precursor CRISPR RNA
tract-RNA Trans activating RNA
dsRNA
Double strand RNA
PAM
Protospacer adjacent motif
6.1 Introduction
The emergence of antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic microbes has captivated the
attention of researchers (Caniça et al. 2019; Vikesland et al. 2019). Antimicrobial
resistance is a condition arising due to the microbial resistance to the medications
that once cured the disease or infection caused by the microbe. This results in inefficacy of standard interventions and persistence of infection (Prestinaci et al. 2015;
Dixit et al. 2015). Overconsumption of medications has led to development of bacterial strains that show resistance to the existent drugs and also to the unsusceptible
non-pathogenic species, which leads to the circulation of resistant genes present in
the environment (Nitsch-Osuch et al. 2016; Lima et al. 2019; Pinheiro et al. 2019).
According to the trend observed, the consumption of medications has a direct relation with the sudden elevation of resistance (Bell et al. 2014; Higuita-Gutiérrez et al.
2018; Auta et al. 2019). According to a WHO report (2016), around 4,90,000 people
developed resistant to multiple drugs prescribed against tuberculosis alone. The
indiscriminate use of antibiotics either self-prescribed or prescribed by medical practitioners has led to a rise in incidents of antimicrobial resistance. Although only 15%
of throat infections are caused by bacteria, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
reports that doctors prescribe a long list of antibiotics which are ineffective in treating the sore throat (Agarwal et al. 2015). Rampant use of antibiotics in animal husbandry is one of the key contributors for antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotics have
long been used as growth promoters and as a nonspecific mode of combating infections in farm animals (Economou and Gousia 2015; Founou et al. 2016). The incorrect and uncontrolled administration of antibiotics and drugs can lessen the efficiency
of antibiotics in curing an infection. Researchers have been working towards eradicating the problem of antimicrobial resistance using phage therapy, re-senstizing the
bacteria against antibiotics, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats
(CRISPR) and others (Nam et al. 2012; Czaplewski et al. 2016; Richardson 2017;
Pursey et al. 2018). Amongst these techniques, CRISPR is a promising tool to overcome antimicrobial resistance. This chapter gives an insight of how CRISPR-Cas9
system can be used in the management of antimicrobial resistance.
A. P. Sarma et al.