Acquired Antibiotic Resistance Genes: An Overview

In this review an overview is given on antibiotic resistance mechanisms with special attentions to the antibiotic resistance genes described so far preceded by a short introduction on the discovery and mode of action of the different classes of antibiotics. As this review is only dealing with acquired resistance, attention is paid to mobile genetic elements such as plasmids, transposons and integrons, which are associated with antibiotic resistance genes, and involved in the dispersal of antimicrobial determinants between different bacteria.