Bacterial "intimate behavior" or interpretation of antibiotic resistance

According to a paper published in the magazine of Nature · Microbiology on the 13th, a group led by researchers at the Empire Institute of Technology in London, England, discovered new details of bacterial exchange DNA and generated drug resistance. Researchers said that these discoveries are the key progress of understanding how bacteria coexistence and matching, which will enable people to predict the spread of newly emerging drug -resistant plasmids in high -risk bacterial pathogens.

One of the main ways of harmful bacteria to resist the resistance to drug resistance is to obtain DNA from other bacteria with resistance. This DNA exchange is performed through a process called "junction", similar to bacterial mating. In the process, two bacteria form an intimate connection, one of which transferred the DNA package to the other.

This discovery is important because antibiotic resistance is leading to the fatal disease that can be treated before. According to expert forecasts, by 2050, 10 million people may die from drug -resistant bacteria infections. Understanding the molecular foundation of bacterial junction can enable researchers to develop a new method of slowing bacterial resistance.

Since the discovery of bacteria in the 1940s, people have made a lot of research on how the two bacterial cells have exposed to each other to transfer DNA. However, the donor and receptor bacteria have an intimate attachment, which is unclear to realize the mechanism of high -efficiency DNA transfer. Researchers now discover the protein that regulate these intimate contact.

The plasmid is a DNA package that is located in the bacterial cell but is separated from the main chromosome DNA. They carry a small amount of genes that can encode certain functions, including drug resistance of antibacterial drugs.

The research team found that during the combination process, a protein called TRAN from the supply of the body served as a "plug" and attached itself to the unique outer receptor or "socket" in the receptor bacteria. One of the four variants of TRAN protein shared by the joint method, each variant is combined with a specific exterior receptor in the receptor bacteria, so that the plasmid can be effectively transferred from one cell to another cell. Essence

"The spread of bacterial resistance is a serious problem that affects human health around the world. We urgently need new tools to deal with it." The professor said, "Knowing and eventually preventing the ability of antibacterial drugs from to sharing 'to sharing' to avoid antibacterial drugs will greatly help prevent the spread of drug resistance."

The team is continuing to study the interaction of Trans protein and receptor, hoping that this work will lay the foundation for the development of new methods to prevent bacterial resistance. (Science and Technology Daily)

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