To be sure, access to the staph genomic sequence and its various strains won't instantly or by itself lead to new ways to attack infections. You'll understand the organism better, and learn what to go after. Cimons reported from Washington and Jacobs reported from California. But because they are not sharing the information with government-funded scientists, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to duplicate the work on staph and a number of other organisms. One of several types of staph bacteria, this one causes half a million hospital infections a year, most often entering the body through surgical incisions.
Bacteria are able to develop resistance to antibiotics because they evolve so quickly.
That's as many as 72 generations in a day, which for humans would require more than 1,500 years. The bacteria with genes that protect them from antibiotics survive the exposure. Overnight, a few resistant microbes can become millions. All the genetic material of an organism. The genome is the genetic blueprint, divided into smaller units called genes, which guides the microbe through its life cycle.