Figure 1.

Schematic representation of antibiotic resistance mechanisms in bacteria. (A). Bacteria might present or acquire mechanisms to disable antibiotics, including alterations on target site, decreased permeability that impairs antibiotics cellular uptake, expression of drug efflux pumps that remove antibiotics from cells, and production of enzymes that modify or degrade antibiotics. (B). Horizontal gene transfer allows the exchange of genetic information between the same or different species by transformation, conjugation, membrane vesicle fusion, transduction, and gene transfer agents mechanisms. ARGs—antibiotic resistance genes, HGT—horizontal gene transfer.