During the study, scientists investigatedresistance of a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus), harmless to humans. To do this, they grew a variant of bacteria in a laboratory in a nutrient medium and added vancomycin, an antibiotic of the glycopeptide group, there. The strain under study also lacks a mechanism that would normally repair genetic changes. This means it is rapidly gaining new properties, including those associated with increased antibiotic resistance.
“Within eight weeks, we got the strain,which can cope with more than a hundredfold increase in antibiotic concentration, ”explained Gabriele Bjerbaum of the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at the University Hospital Bonn. Now researchers want to figure out how other strains of staphylococcus can cope with the same task.
Scientists have come up with an unusual way to treat resistant bacterial infections
“Our bacterial strain has a much thicker wall,than normal staphylococci. The cell wall also contains many molecular chains, the ends of which are hardly cross-linked. These uncrosslinked sites can bind vancomycin, ”the researchers added.
The cell wall works like a spongewhich absorbs the antibiotic and prevents it from reaching the membrane. At the same time, the bound vancomycin clogs the pores of this sponge and blocks the path to the membrane.
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