Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tough germs swap DNA behind noses
"We found that the bacteria make biofilms in the nose that protect against the action of antibiotics, which have a hard time destroying biofilms," says Anders P. Hakansson. "In addition, we know that some of the bacteria have to die in order to develop good biofilms. So dead bacteria help create good biofilms and provide DNA that other bacteria can take up and use, which is how bacteria spread antibiotic resistance and become more fit."
U. BUFFALO (US) ? Genetic exchange of antibiotic resistance occurs about 10 million times more effectively in the nose than in the blood of animals, report researchers.
Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria?s uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. But exactly how the bacteria acquire and spread that resistance inside individuals carrying them is not well-established for most bacterial organisms.
Now, microbiologists studying bacterial colonization in mice have discovered how the very rapid and efficient spread of antibiotic resistance works in the respiratory pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae (also known as the pneumococcus).
As reported in the journal mBio, the team found that resistance stems from the transfer of DNA between bacterial strains in biofilms in the nasopharynx, the area just behind the nose.
?The high efficiency of genetic transformation that we observed between bacteria in the nose has a direct clinical implication, since this is how antibiotic resistance spreads, and it?s increasing in the population,? explains lead author Anders P. Hakansson, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
?The bacteria ?borrow? each others? DNA in order to become more fit in the host environment and more elusive to the actions of antibiotics.?
Read more: Futurity.org
Read the original study
DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00200-12
.
Tough germs swap DNA behind noses
"We found that the bacteria make biofilms in the nose that protect against the action of antibiotics, which have a hard time destroying biofilms," says Anders P. Hakansson. "In addition, we know that some of the bacteria have to die in order to develop good biofilms. So dead bacteria help create good biofilms and provide DNA that other bacteria can take up and use, which is how bacteria spread antibiotic resistance and become more fit."
U. BUFFALO (US) ? Genetic exchange of antibiotic resistance occurs about 10 million times more effectively in the nose than in the blood of animals, report researchers.
Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria?s uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. But exactly how the bacteria acquire and spread that resistance inside individuals carrying them is not well-established for most bacterial organisms.
Now, microbiologists studying bacterial colonization in mice have discovered how the very rapid and efficient spread of antibiotic resistance works in the respiratory pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae (also known as the pneumococcus).
As reported in the journal mBio, the team found that resistance stems from the transfer of DNA between bacterial strains in biofilms in the nasopharynx, the area just behind the nose.
?The high efficiency of genetic transformation that we observed between bacteria in the nose has a direct clinical implication, since this is how antibiotic resistance spreads, and it?s increasing in the population,? explains lead author Anders P. Hakansson, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
?The bacteria ?borrow? each others? DNA in order to become more fit in the host environment and more elusive to the actions of antibiotics.?
Read more: Futurity.org
Read the original study
DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00200-12
.