How Bacteria 'act As One' To Escape Antibiotics

New research zooms in on Pseudomonas aeruginosa to uncover a strategy that drug-resistant bacteria use to avoid antibiotics

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th November, 2019) New research zooms in on Pseudomonas aeruginosa to uncover a strategy that drug-resistant bacteria use to avoid antibiotics. The findings could help make antibiotics more effective.Share on PinterestPetri dish experiments show how bacteria communicate to escape antibiotics.Jean-Louis Bru, from the department of molecular biology and biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine, is the first author of the new study, which appears in the Journal of Bacteriology.Bru and colleagues focused their research efforts on Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P.

aeruginosa), a type of bacteria that attacks people with cystic fibrosis.Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary respiratory condition wherein the lungs produce more mucus than they should. It affects about 30,000 people in the United States.P.

aeruginosa is one of the most dangerous types of bacteria.In the context of the public health crisis that is antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) placed P. aeruginosa on the list of "priority pathogensTrusted Source" that is, the 12 bacteria that are most hazardous to human health because they have become resistant to the drugs that doctors commonly used to fight them.WHO divided these 12 bacteria into "critical," "high," and "medium" priority, listing P.

aeruginosa as critical due to its resistance to the group of antibiotics called carbapenems.In this broader picture, research such as the study that Bru and colleagues have conducted is crucial for both understanding bacteria's defense mechanisms and tackling infections more effectively.Bacteria act as 'one united organism'In the new study, the researchers examined the growth and spread of bacteria in petri dishes, recreating an environment similar to that of the mucous membranes that enable P.

aeruginosa to thrive in cystic fibrosis.Here, the team tested the effect of antibiotics and bacteriophages on "swarming," which is the ability that bacteria have to move collectively.BacteriophagesTrusted Source are viruses that infect and attack bacteria from within.Mixing the antibiotic gentamicin with P.

aeruginosa cells revealed that the bacteria send signals to their conspecific bacteria, warning them of the danger and enabling them to avoid it.The Pseudomonas bacteria do this by secreting the quinolone signaling molecule PQS, write the authors.

They explain, "These mechanisms have the overall effect of limiting the infection to a subpopulation, which promotes the survival of the overall population."