Antibiotic Resistance
Recent research has shown that the SOS pathway may be essential in the acquisition of bacterial mutations which lead to resistance to some antibiotic drugs. The increased rate of mutation during the SOS response is caused by three low-fidelity DNA polymerases: Pol II, Pol IV and Pol V. Researchers are now targeting these proteins with the aim of creating drugs that prevent SOS repair. By doing so, the time needed for pathogenic bacteria to evolve antibiotic resistance could be extended, and thus improve the long term viability of some antibiotic drugs.
Read more about this topic: SOS Response
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)