The Achilles' Heel in Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria: A Defensive Barrier Against Drugs

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is on the rise, which is why it's more important than ever to discover new ways to combat this bacteria. Now, scientists may have found an Achilles' heel when it comes to the defensive barrier that surrounds drug-resistant bacteria.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a real problem. In fact, the World Health Organization has issued warnings that antibiotic-resistance in bacteria is spreading globally. This, in particular, is concerning since antibiotic-resistance can cause even common infections to be deadly.

In this case, the researchers investigated a class of bacteria called "gram-negative bacteria." This class is particularly resistant to antibiotics due to its cell's impermeable lipid-based outer membrane, which acts as a defensive barrier against attacks from the human immune system and drugs. By studying this barrier, though, the researchers were able to find out how bacterial cells transport the barrier building blocks to the outer surface in order to create the barrier in the first place.

"We have identified the path and gate used by the bacteria to transport the barrier building blocks to the outer surface," said Changjiang Dong, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Importantly, we have demonstrated that the bacteria would die if the gate is locked."

As super-bugs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria continue to spread, it's important to understand the mechanisms by which these bacteria manage to protect themselves against drugs. By looking at the protective barrier, these researchers have managed to potentially discover a way to create new treatments to combat these bacteria.

"The really exciting thing about this research is that new drugs will specifically target the protective barrier around the bacteria, rather than the bacteria itself," said Haohao Dong, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Because new drugs will not need to enter the bacteria itself, we hope that the bacteria will not be able to develop drug resistance in the future."

The findings are published in the journal Nature.