UNIVERSITATEA DIN PITETI

FACULTATEA DE TIINE
BIOLOGIE

Referat ENGLEZ

HOGIOIU Elena, anul II-grupa 2

Germs help each other fend off antibiotics

Drug-resistant infections are a big and growing problem. Most are
caused by bacteria that have evolved genetic changes, called mutations, which
make them immune to the cell-killing effects of antibiotics. A new study finds
that these germs are more likely to survive antibiotics if the bacteria dont have
to face the cell killers alone. By working in groups, bacteria can share chemicals
making each germ better able to resist attacks by the medicines.
For their study, researchers worked with the bacterium Staphylococcus
aureus. Its known as staph, for short.
This germ causes a variety of infections. Many can be life threatening.
Most staph infections occur during a hospital stay. These can affect blood, bone
or other tissues. The germs also can lead to pneumonia. Outside hospitals, staph
is more likely to cause skin infections. These infections often affect people who
play contact sports.
Through mutations, staph like many germs can develop into new
strains. While not a new species, a new strain will have new features. This
happens because the mutation produces changes in the types or amounts of
chemicals that an organism makes. And among some strains of staph germs,
those new traits let the bacteria survive an assault by commonly used antibiotics.
These traits often evolve when the bacteria are exposed to the same types
of antibiotics for decades. Along the way, some staph germs will develop DNA
changes those mutations which protect them from the drugs. (The best
known of these mutant germs is called MRSA, for methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus. Methicillin is a widely used antibiotic.)
The new study looked at staph germs that could survive different types of
drugs. All the bacteria were living together. And each shared some of the
different drug-defense chemicals that it had made. This swapping now allowed
the germs to fend off the effects of antibiotics. More of them became
superbugs germs that could laugh at multiple antibiotics than if they had
been fighting those drugs on their own.
Some drug-resistant bacteria developed mutations that stop antibiotics from
entering the cell, Skaar notes. But these mutations also stop cellular respiration.
Thats the process by which the cells turn food into energy. If respiration shuts
down, cells cannot grow well and multiply.
Without respiration, the germs dont die. Instead, they turn on a process called
fermentation. This process makes energy by breaking down sugars. But this
process makes much less energy than respiration does, Skaar points out.

That should be good news for us. Bacteria that make less energy should be
weak. These cells still might be resistant to antibiotics, but they would find it
difficult to reproduce fast enough to overcome the bodys ability to kill them.
Yet time and again, MRSA staph cells have proven themselves able to overcome
this and cause serious disease. That made Skaars team wonder if those different
staph strains might be helping each other to overcome their weaknesses.
To find out, the researchers used two strains of staph. One had a mutation
that kept the germs from making an enzyme that produces heme. Heme is an
iron-based compound also found in red blood cells. The other mutant staph
strain lacked the enzyme to make vitamin K. (Bacteria in our gut make this
vitamin, which helps us by allowing blood to clot.)
When working properly, both enzymes move antibiotics into the germ. So
staph strains unable to make either enzyme are protected against killer
antibiotics. They dont die. But since the germ cells need both heme and vitamin
K for respiration, the affected cells could make only tiny colonies.
That changed when the researchers mixed the two strains of staph. Suddenly, the
bacteria began thriving again. And the bad news: They still fended off the
antibiotics.
The strains that could not make heme still made vitamin K, Skaars team
showed. And the strains not able to make vitamin K still produced heme. But
when they lived together, the two mutant strains shared. They somehow offered
their neighbor the important chemical they needed but couldnt make
themselves. This allowed both strains to become a much bigger threat. They
grew well and were immune to the effects of the drugs meant to kill them.
The mutant staph strains could even borrow the missing compounds that it
needed from other species of bacteria, the researchers showed. That means drugresistant staph can pick up those essential compounds from the good bacteria
already in our bodies.