Understanding the interaction between pathogens could help us understand how they behave in relation to others and even use them toward our advantage.
A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) has found a process that allows them to utilize "good" viruses against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Particularly, it blocks the abilities of the bacteria to replicate without harming itself, showing the ability to distinguish between its allies and enemies on the microscopic scale.
Researchers present their findings in the article "A phage mechanism for selective nicking of dUMP-containing DNA," appearing in the latest Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The Struggle Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antibiotic resistance happens when pathogens like bacteria and fungi are no longer defeated by drugs intended to kill them. Unhampered, they continue to grow inside the host even though antibiotics are taken, posing risks to health and could lead to more severe conditions.
The CDC additionally reports that there are at least 2.8 million people in the US infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria or fungi, with more than 35,000 people dying from complications.
However, this was a problem that has been foreseen since the dawn of modern antibiotics. In an article examining "The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis" published in the Pharmacy and Therapeutics journal, Sir Alexander Fleming - who discovered penicillin - has already sounded the alarms as early as 1945. The Scottish microbiologist warned that someday the public would "begin an era of abuses." The uncontrolled use of antibiotics has led to certain strains of bacteria developing resistance against the medicine designed to stop them.
Using Natural Processes to Fight Bacteria
The TAU team believes that a potential solution against antibiotic-resistant bacteria is possible upon a further understanding of how a bacteriophage exactly operates. A bacteriophage - or bacteria-eating viruses - is a potentially new method of fighting bacterial pathogens. In their study, researchers report that bacteriophage protein works by exploiting a DNA-repair protein in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, cutting the pathogen's ability to repair itself.
"The bacteriophage takes advantage of the bacterial DNA's need for repair, while the bacteriophage itself has no need for this specific kind of repair," explains Prof. Udi Qimron, one of the lead authors of the TAU study, in a press release from the university. "In this way the bacteriophage destroys the bacteria without suffering any damage to itself."
Qimron notes that the ability to distinguish oneself from others is important in nature and has various biological applications. For example, it spells the difference between a medicine's ability to neutralize pathogens without causing harm to the human cells surrounding it. Another instance is our own immune system, which protects us from external microorganisms. A failure in this ability leads to autoimmune diseases, in which the body utilizes immune responses against its own cells.
In their study, researchers found a method for identifying bacteria that are not affected by this mechanism, which is in the antibiotic-resistant strains. Through this, they were able to identify which specific mechanisms in these pathogens are affected by the bacteriophage viruses.
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