![]() Since then, he has been studying QS and searching for potent molecules to block it. Paul Williams, a microbiologist at the University of Nottingham and author of the new study, has been fascinated by QS since the late 1980s when he and his colleagues accidentally discovered a molecule involved in bacterial communication that was widely used by multiple species of bacteria (2). QS also helps bacteria decide when to produce antibiotics in self-defense against other species of bacteria. For example, some bacteria use QS to determine when there are enough bacterial cells in the population to form a biofilm. This is a type of cell-to-cell communication that allows bacteria to detect how dense their local environment is and enhance their survival by mutual coordination. aeruginosa bacteria communicate with each other through a process called quorum sensing (QS). "There is really a gap in our antibiotic arsenal to target those chronic mixed biofilm infections, and anyone who is testing their antibiotics or new drugs against mixed species biofilms is tackling a really difficult problem, one for which we do not have a lot of good answers right now,” said George O’Toole a microbiologist at Dartmouth College who studies biofilms and was not involved in the study. This new finding has the potential to change the way researchers think about treating chronic S. aureus biofilms when used in combination with the antibiotic tobramycin (1). In a new Cell Chemical Biology study, researchers at the University of Nottingham identified a chemically modified inhibitor of P. This leads to long courses of antimicrobial therapies that are often ineffective at clearing the infection. These species often form biofilms, fortress-like formations that protect the bacteria within, making antibiotics up to 1000 times less effective. Together, they can chronically infect the wounds of patients with diabetes, grow on implanted medical devices like catheters and heart valves, and invade the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are two human pathogens that often live in the same environments. Bacteria grow in complex ecosystems surrounded by multiple species working together or pitted against each other for survival. Scientists often study particular bacterial species separate from other species, yet this is seldom reality outside of the lab. ![]()
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