Peptide 1018
A peptide has been found that destroys antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Anna Govorova, Infox.ru
Microbiologists from the University of British Columbia (Canada) have discovered a small peptide that may help solve the problem of the growth of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
Peptide 1018, as the experiment has shown, successfully destroys bacterial biofilms – communities of bacteria, many of which do not respond to the action of antibiotics at all, therefore pose a special threat to health.
"Now there is a serious problem of the growth of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. And our entire huge arsenal of antibiotics is starting to lose its effectiveness," says the study's lead author, Professor Bob Hancock
Many bacteria do not exist in the human body alone, but form communities. It is believed that in such biofilms, microorganisms are immersed in an intracellular matrix, which they use for nutrition. Such a community is perfectly adapted to the action of a variety of environmental factors and is often resistant to antibiotics. According to some data, up to 80% of microorganisms in biofilm infection are multi-resistant.
In their experiments, Hancock and his colleagues discovered a peptide known as peptide 1018, consisting of 12 amino acid residues, which just destroy biofilms and prevent their formation.
According to Hancock, the peptide acts on both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. It is very important that it is able to destroy even methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus and some antibiotic-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli.
"Antibiotics remain currently the most successful way of treatment. The loss of the effectiveness of antibiotics means serious problems during operations, during certain types of chemotherapy, during organ transplantation and even with minor wounds," says Hancock.
"Our study shows a new opportunity to solve the problem of antibiotic resistance and search for new agents that can target bacterial biofilms," he adds.
An article by Professor Hancock and his colleagues with the results of a study of how the peptide acts on bacterial communities has been published in the latest issue of the journal PLOs Pathogens (Broad-Spectrum Anti-biofilm Peptide That Targets a Cellular Stress Response).
The picture from the popular retelling of the work in ScienceDaily (Biofilm defense: Mechanisms and actions of a new class of broad-spectrum antimicrobials) shows Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus before and after exposure to peptide 1018.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.005.2014