Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious chronic human disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. M. tuberculosis has a great capability of resistance with plentiful natural and acquired mechanisms in their genome that contribute to the spread of highly drug resistance strains and became major public health concern. The majority of drug resistance in M. tuberculosis strains has been resulted from a numbers of chromosomal mutation events most of which are due to the mechanisms of epistasis that leads to the creation of resistance genes to anti-TB drugs. Epistasis can occur when two or more mutations interact with each other to express new phenotypic traits to modify their fitness cost. Thus, the objective of this review was to assessed the molecular mechanisms of epistasis and its consequences in the evolution and managements of antibiotic resistance-TB.  The  epistatic  interactions  within  and  between resistance gene mutations in M. tuberculosis could be detected by co-culture competitive fitness experimental assay under optimal growth conditions that showed either significantly negative or improving deleterious positive fitness effect. Molecular mechanisms of epistatic interaction could have important practical consequences in the trajectory of drug resistance, evolution of antimicrobial resistance and management of antibiotic resistance-TB. Understanding the evolution of M. tuberculosis under antibiotic treatments is a burning issue today. Unlike the deleterious positive epistasis, the beneficial negative epistatic interaction of resistance gene mutations under multidrug therapy method and/or collateral drug sensitivity approaches based on the knowledge of drug combinations help to mitigate the spread of drug-resistant strains, reduce treatment duration, minimize adverse drug effects on evolution of MDR/XDR-TB and improve treatment outcomes of TB patients.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of mortality and the first killer among infectious diseases of poverty (IDoPs) worldwide. It disproportionately affects on-third of the world’s low-income countries including Ethiopia. One of the factors driving the TB epidemic is the global rise of MDR/XDR-TB and their low detection affect the global TB control progress. Recently, the resistance-associated genetic mutations in MTBC known to confer drug resistance have been detected by rapid molecular diagnostic tests and sequencing methods. In this article, the published literature searched by PubMed database from 2010 to 2021 and English language were considered. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the prevalence of the most common rpoB, katG, and inhA gene mutations associated with multidrug resistance in MTBC clinical strains among TB patients in Ethiopia. Though 22 studies met our eligibility criteria, only 6 studies were included in the final analysis. Using the molecular GenoType MTBDRplus and MTBDRsl line probe assay and sequencing procedures, a total of 932 culture-positive MTBC isolates were examined to determine RIF, INH, and MDR-TB resistance patterns along with rpoB, katG, and inhA gene mutation analysis. As a result, among the genotypically tested MTBC isolates, 119 (12.77%), 83 (8.91%), and 73 (7.32%) isolates were INH, RIF, and MDR-TB resistant, respectively. In any RIF-resistant MTBC strains, the most common single point mutations were in codon 531 (S531L) followed by codon 526 (H526Y) of the rpoB gene. Besides, the most common mutations in any INH-resistant MTBC were strains observed at codon 315 (S315T) and WT probe in the katG gene and at codon C15T and WT1 probe in the inhA promoter region. Detection of resistance allele in rpoB, KatG, and inhA genes for RIF and INH could serve as a marker for MDR-TB strains. Tracking the most common S531L, S315T, and C15T mutations in rpoB, katG, and inhA genes among RIF- and INH-resistant isolates would be valuable in TB diagnostics and treatment regimens, and could reduce the development and risk of MDR/XDR-TB drug-resistance patterns.

Climatic change has a great challenge to almost all human activities over the years. Continuous increase in climate change could have a negative effect on global food security. In order to feed the current ever-increasing world population, there is a need to double the rate of agricultural productivity. Biotechnology through genetic modification can contribute their incredible roles positively towards reducing vulnerability of natural and human systems to climate change effects including greenhouse gas reduction, and increase agricultural production on less land in helping to meet future food by the adoption of GM-crop traits such as herbicide-tolerant crops, drought-tolerant crops, insect-resistant crops, and high-yielding transgenic crops which counters the negative effects of climate change. It is important that bio-safety regulatory systems to be established and good policies formulated on agricultural development with the use of sustainable agricultural biotechnology with public-private partnership to effectively utilize modern biotechnology to enhance food security and mitigate climatic changes. Currently, modern biotechnology has encountered enormous public debates related to risks and benefits of genetically modified organisms in terms of human health, environment, socio-economic, and ethical and cultural concern issues. However, safe application of modern agricultural biotechnologies is significantly contributing to the current and future climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, and greatly improve agricultural productivity and food security to ensure food availability or access to food for all and efficient utilization of food resources globally. This will ensure that the GM-crops have no adverse effect on living organisms and the environmentally safe. Therefore, the aim of this review paper was to assessed the current challenges and future perspectives of biotechnology through genetic modification for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and food security.

BackgroundAntibiotic drugs are unquestionably the most effective form of chemotherapy and have a significant impact on the survival of bacteria. However, microbes have an amazing ability to adapt to these antibiotic drugs. The rapid emergency and evolution of antimicrobial resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria have a serious health risks since the earliest days of antibiotic research because bacteria have an evolved mechanism to overcome the effect of antibiotics and thereby become resistant, which is depending on species type and geographical location [1]. Even though, a