Treatment of severe infections caused by pathogenic bacteria depends on last-ditch antibiotics
In a new study, scientists fromFlinders University focused on how bacterial cells adapt to and resist antimicrobials. The scientists focused on a strain of Acinetobacter baumannii, which is common in hospitals, and studied its cellular response to the powerful antibiotic colistin. It is produced by certain strains of the bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa and is effective against most gram-negative bacteria.
It turned out that the bacterial strain A.baumannii has a two-component signaling system that modifies its potential response to antibiotic treatment. This observed two-component signal transduction involves the response regulator protein in the StkR/S system acting as a repressor, and hundreds of transcriptional changes are observed upon genetic ablation. Some of these changes affect the composition of the outer membrane of the bacterial cell, leading to colistin resistance. As a result, the experiment showed that the bacteria coped with the antibiotic.
Colistin is used when everyone elseAntibiotics no longer work. “Identifying and understanding the mechanisms that contribute to bacterial resistance to drugs of this nature is therefore critical,” concludes senior researcher Professor Melissa Brown.
Antimicrobial resistanceoccurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medications, making infections more difficult to treat and increase the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and even death.
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