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WASHINGTON: Researchers have developed a novel computer software which identifies genetic changes that allow bacteria to develop resistance to new experimental drugs. 

Duke University researchers used the software to predict a constantly-evolving infectious bacterium's countermoves to one of these new drugs ahead of time, before the drug is even tested on patients. 

The team used their programme to identify the genetic changes that will allow methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, to develop resistance to a class of new experimental drugs that show promise against the deadly bug. When the researchers treated live bacteria with the new drug, two of the genetic changes actually arose, just as their algorithm predicted. 

"This gives us a window into the future to see what bacteria will do to evade drugs that we design before a drug is deployed," said co-author Bruce Donald, a professor of computer science and biochemistry at Duke.