A discourse community includes individuals who share common values and ideas, work to accomplish the same goals, and communicate using their own terminology. Biology is a natural science based on critical thinking and continuous research of new hypotheses, therefore effective communication is a key characteristic. The members of this discourse community are constantly sharing their ideas and new discoveries. As being part of this discourse community, communication with others using scientific language and writing is taught early on. This significant characteristic is evident in my research paper. The first principle in effective communication is language. In a biology discourse community, a scientific language is developed amongst its members.
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Bacteriophage is a virus that attacks bacterial cells and “disrupts” its normal metabolism, causing “the bacterium to lyse” (Sulakvelidze et al., 2001). Its effect on bacteria make the bacteriophage a possible new treatment for antibiotic resistant superbugs. Golkar et al. (2013) discuss the various advantages bacteriophage therapy offers over antibiotics. They are “very specific to their hosts”, meaning they can be easily manipulated to detect a specific bacterial infection. Antibiotics, on the other hand, cannot be controlled in such a way. They kill both pathogenic bacteria and normal human microorganisms as well. Another advantage is that when bacteriophage finds the infection site, it will replicate to kill all the bacteria, and it will not travel any further. Antibiotics, instead, will travel throughout the entire body, which may cause secondary infections or undesired side effects. Another advantage is that bacteriophages are “environmentally friendly and are based on natural selection”, making them identify bacteria much faster than antibiotics. Developing new antibiotics, however, is a very lengthy process and carries a big price tag. Besides these many advantages, an important question still remains: can bacteria develop resistance to bacteriophages? Golkar et al. (2013) reveal that though bacteria do have that potential, it will not become as much of a problem as antibiotics present. Like bacteria, bacteriophages can undergo mutations as well, evolving into stronger viruses. Also, phage resistance can be slowed down if infections are treated with a mixture of multiple different bacteriophages, or even in a mixture with antibiotics. With all of these advantages, bacteriophage therapy is a very “promising” solution in treating bacterial
Bacteriophage is a virus that attacks bacterial cells and “disrupts” its normal metabolism, causing “the bacterium to lyse” (Sulakvelidze et al., 2001). Its effect on bacteria make the bacteriophage a possible new treatment for antibiotic resistant superbugs. Golkar et al. (2013) discuss the various advantages bacteriophage therapy offers over antibiotics. They are “very specific to their hosts”, meaning they can be easily manipulated to detect a specific bacterial infection. Antibiotics, on the other hand, cannot be controlled in such a way. They kill both pathogenic bacteria and normal human microorganisms as well. Another advantage is that when bacteriophage finds the infection site, it will replicate to kill all the bacteria, and it will not travel any further. Antibiotics, instead, will travel throughout the entire body, which may cause secondary infections or undesired side effects. Another advantage is that bacteriophages are “environmentally friendly and are based on natural selection”, making them identify bacteria much faster than antibiotics. Developing new antibiotics, however, is a very lengthy process and carries a big price tag. Besides these many advantages, an important question still remains: can bacteria develop resistance to bacteriophages? Golkar et al. (2013) reveal that though bacteria do have that potential, it will not become as much of a problem as antibiotics present. Like bacteria, bacteriophages can undergo mutations as well, evolving into stronger viruses. Also, phage resistance can be slowed down if infections are treated with a mixture of multiple different bacteriophages, or even in a mixture with antibiotics. With all of these advantages, bacteriophage therapy is a very “promising” solution in treating bacterial