Researchers at Washington University near St. Louis have found that some multidrug-resistant bacteria intentionally get rid of the genes that protect them from antibiotics. That discovery could eventually provide a new way to treat deadly infections.
Microbiologist Mario Feldman says some strains of a bacterium known as Asinetobacter baumannii are resistant to all antibiotics.
But Feldman’s research team found that, in order to kill other competing bacteria, this superbug has to lose of a piece of its own DNA — called a plasmid — that carries the genes for antibiotic resistance.
“If we could learn how to force bacteria to lose this plasmid, then they will all naturally lose the antibiotic resistance, and then we could treat the infection with any antibiotic we already know,” Feldman said.
Any medical applications are still a long way off, but Feldman says to fight antibiotic resistance, we first need to understand how it works.
Feldman says, with more bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, this finding could provide a new strategy for combatting life-threatening infections.