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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
They may be slimy, but they are a perfect environment for microorganisms: biofilms. Protected against external influences, here bacteria can grow undisturbed, and trigger diseases. Scientists at Kiel University, in cooperation with colleagues at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) in Hamburg-Harburg, are researching how it can be possible to prevent the formation of biofilms from the beginning. On this basis, alternatives to antibiotics could be developed, as many pathogens are already resistant to most commercially used antibiotics. The biologists have published their findings in the scientific journal Frontiers in Microbiology. Their study shows that strategies from nature are particularly effective at inhibiting biofilms.
A thin layer floating on water, dental plaque, or slimy black coatings in the washing machine detergent drawer: biofilms originate when cells attach to surfaces, and organise themselves into coordinated three-dimensional consortia, embedded in an extracellular matrix. It becomes problematic when biofilms form on medical devices or implants. Pathogenic bacteria, which trigger deseases, pose a particularly serious threat, as they cannot be treated with normal antibiotics when growing within a biofilm. Therefore: "One way to prevent illnesses is to stop biofilms forming in the first place," according to Professor Ruth Schmitz-Streit from the Institute of General Microbiology at Kiel University.
In order to coordinate themselves and establish consortia on surfaces, the bacteria must communicate with each other via signal molecules (so-called "autoinducers"). If this communication is disrupted, no biofilm can be formed. This cell-to-cell communication, known as "quorum sensing" (QS), can be influenced by disruptive biomolecules ("quorum quenching" or QQ proteins). "Proteins can break down these signal molecules, or modify them in such a way that they are no longer functional," explained Schmitz-Streit. Therefore, the goal of the study, financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), was to find QQ proteins which disrupt this communication between bacteria as effectively as possible.
[...] The research group discovered even more: the communication-disrupting protein QQ-2 proved itself to be particularly effective during the investigations. "This protein is very robust and can prevent many different types of biofilms," explained Weiland-Bräuer. Previous studies focused more on disrupting a particular language of bacteria. "In contrast, the QQ-2 protein is orientated towards a 'universal language', and can disrupt the communication of different bacteria. This makes it a 'general troublemaker'."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @05:47PM
Bacteria like e coli can divide every 20 minutes. That means if you start with one single bacterium you will have 2 after 20 min, 4 after 40 min, 8 after 60 min, etc. In general that would be N=N0*2^(t*r), where N is the number of cells at time t, N0 the initial number, and r the division rate (eg 1/20 min). So lets say one bacteria gets an advantage from becoming resistant to QQ2, how many resistant cells can there be after one day? N = 1*2^(24*60/20)=2^72. That is ~ 4.7*10^21 resistant cells after one day.
From the above we can get an idea of how easy it is for a resistant bacterial strain to spread and take over the population, so we should not care at all about people claiming to discover some method that prevents biofilm formation in the lab. We only care if it is difficult for the bacteria to become resistant when it offers a reproductive advantage to do so. I didnt RTFA but this key info is missing from the summary.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @06:11PM
we should not care at all about people claiming to discover some method that prevents biofilm formation in the lab
What a silly thing to say. You also think that coming up with new antibiotics is useless? Of course inventing a single way to inhibit biofilms is not a magic bullet but nobody claimed it was. Just that biofilms are very important and poorly understood and these guys are working to change that. Everybody with two braincells knows evolution exists, no need to mention it...
Try being not so negative, you might actually like it.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @08:26PM
Everybody with two braincells knows evolution exists, no need to mention it...
Hey! I'm sure that at least some creationists have more than one brain cell!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @08:49PM
No, I think the resistance factor is so obvious it is unbelievable a study on this can get funded that doesnt include an assessment of it. This is common sense, and all they have to do is the same thing but for more generations. It would require minimal funding and effort to do. In fact, it is so obvious and easy that I bet such data was collected but is not being reported for some reason (maybe trying to get more papers out of it, maybe they dont like the results, who knows?)