Sayak Banerjee, Amity University Kolkata
Antibiotic resistance and its impact:
Antibiotics are drugs or chemical substances secreted by certain microorganisms engineered to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. Thus, they induce the treatment of bacterial infections. Often when these drugs are overused or in the case of any drug abuse, bacteria develop an antibiotic resistance against the medicines. Lately, this has aroused to be the most serious public challenges, as in the United States at least 35,000 people decease from around 2.8 million people affected by antibiotic-resistant infections annually.
Staphylococcus aureus and its resistance to antibiotics:
Staphylococcus aureus is a spherical-shaped gram-positive bacterium, which has turned out to be the most self adaptable pathogen. It is so threatening that it is estimated that more or less 30% of the human population are long-term asymptomatic carriers. Staphylococcus strains are a cause of various symptoms such as food poisoning, skin infection, bacteremia, bone infection, etc. Not only does it lead to sub-acute superficial skin infections but also fatal septicemia.
The increase in the prevalence of these strains has resulted in the rise in antibiotic-resistant strains, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (abbreviated as MRSA). Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic could stand out to be the reason behind the further rise in such antimicrobial resistance. This is there has been a heavy usage of antibiotics to treat patients affected with SARS-Cov-2. Hence, currently, there is a lack of openings towards the development of antibiotics with the advent of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
The study of interest:
A research team from the University of Hong Kong(HKU) has discovered that silver (Ag)-based antimicrobials have the potential to combat antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. From historical evidence, it has been seen that metal ions possessing fundamental broad-spectrum characteristics as well as a minimal chance of resistance played a huge role as antimicrobial agents. For that reason, in search of alternative strategies to tackle the crisis, the researchers have revitalized metal-based compounds as promising solutions. Silver ions (Ag+) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely employed in the food and health care industry not only today but also for centuries.
In this study, the team has used a modified version of a technical platform named LC-GE-ICP-MS, which they had built earlier, to isolate and identify 38 genuine Ag+ binding proteins in Staphylococcus aureus at its genome-scale. With the combination of biochemical characterization and bioinformatics, they exhibited that Ag+ targets multiple proteomes. This binding impedes numerous biological pathways including glycolysis, ROS stress defense system, and oxPP pathway, thus exerting a microbicidal effect against Staphylococcus aureus. Such a unique mechanism of silver endues it with long-lasting potential against Staphylococcus aureus. Moreover, the scientists have shown that Ag+ or AgNPs can enhance the effectiveness of a broad range of antibiotics along with resensitizing MRSA to antibiotics.
Hence, the incorporation of silver or AgNPs into antibiotics provides a promising approach towards slowing down the evolution of antibiotic resistance, inhibition of the selection effect in antibiotics and increasing the longevity of the standard antibiotics to bring upon solace in such a crisis of antibiotic resistance.
Also read: NUCOME: The new Database for nucleosome organisation
Reference:
- Haibo Wang, Minji Wang, Xiaohan Xu, Peng Gao, Zeling Xu, Qi Zhang, Hongyan Li, Aixin Yan, Richard Yi-Tsun Kao, Hongzhe Sun. Multi-target mode of action of silver against Staphylococcus aureus endows it with capability to combat antibiotic resistance. Nature Communications, 2021; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23659-y
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About author:
Sayak Banerjee is a 3rd year Biotechnology Engineering student with great interest in Immunology and Microbial genetics. He is a creative scientific writer with an inclination towards gaining knowledge regarding various sections of Biotechnology and emphasizing himself in various wet lab skills. Some of his published articles at BioXone.in are:
- https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/car-t-cells-scientists-discover-on-off-switches-for-cell-immunotherapy/
- https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/neutrophil-derived-nanovesicles-a-novel-drug-delivery-system/
- https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/pig-to-human-heart-transplantation-a-solution-to-the-rarity-of-donor-organs/
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