Got them "antimicrobials in my boots" blues

Bought a pair of hiking boots today and noticed that they had "Microbe Shield" on them. I couldn't resist - I had to find out what they were doing that made it antimicrobial. Obviously with something like a boot you don't exactly impregnate it with ampicillin. Here's what I found out about that

The companie's name is Aegis. They've synthesized an interesting molecule that has 3 main components. The first part of the molecule is bound to the material. The second part of the molecule is positively charged and therefore attracts the negatively charged bacteria to it (quiz - what makes the bacterial wall negatively charged?). The third part of the molecule is rigid and "stabs" the cell. The molecule doesn't get consumed in the interaction therefore it can act for a long time.

They have an interesting interactive about the mode of action of the molecule at:

http://www.microbeshield.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31&Itemid=3

update 3/15/13 - looks like the business has been restructured

http://www.microban.com/americas/english

the tech video can now be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmQy0AunWGo

Evidence of ancient antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria

"Researchers Find Antibiotic Resistance in Ancient DNA"

link to NYTimes article

Highlights

• researchers isolated and sequenced DNA from bacteria in 30,000 yr old permafrost
• by comparing the gene sequences to current databases they were able to identify some of the ancient genes as genes involved in antibiotic resistance

for current Micro students - so given that 30,000 years precedes human use of antibiotics (considerably I might add), why did those bacteria have antibiotic resistance genes? (let me know if you think you have an answer...you'll find out later this semester but it's an interesting one to think about in the meanwhile.)