Scientists solve 30-year old mystery on how resistance genes spread

(Technical University of Denmark) For more than 30 years, scientists have proposed that resistance genes actually originate from the microorganisms producing the antibiotic.Now, research conducted at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability -- DTU Biosustain -- at Technical University of Denmark for the very first time shows that antibiotic resistance genes originate from the same place as the antibiotic compounds, i.e. from a group of soil bacteria called Actinobacteria.