We are aware that antibiotics are not working to fight
against pathogens. Scientists knew that bacteria would reproduce and strengthen
their genome, in order to resist strains of antibiotics. Researchers from
Hebrew University are claiming that there are “persistent bacteria” which are
not resistant to antibiotics they simply stay in a sleeping mode or inactive
state while they are exposed to antibiotics. This is scary because after the
antibiotics leave the human host the pathogenic bacteria essentially wake up
and continue causing harm.
According to Professor Gadi Glaser there is a connection
between pathogenic bacteria and the toxin HipA, at first scientists were
unaware that this toxin was actually causing the bacteria to “go to sleep.” Now
they are trying to find new ways to rid of pathogenic bacteria without making
them go to sleep. The researchers have created a model of how the toxin HipA
disrupts the chemical “messaging” between bacteria cells. They need this
messaging system to build nutrients for proteins. When the toxin interrupts the
signaling the bacteria take it as a hunger period and enter into an inactive
state in order to preserve their energy. Once the antibacterial treatment is
over the bacteria essentially wake up and continue causing harm to their host.
Scientists are trying to understand how the toxin HipA
interrupts the chemical signaling in bacteria cells in order to avoid causing
the bacteria to enter into an inactive state. When we get sick we rely on
medicine and antibiotics to cure us not to put the pathogenic bacteria to
sleep. It will be really interesting to see how scientists will overcome this
challenge. Bacteria are super tiny organisms that seem to be outsmarting even
the greatest scientists.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131229112055.htm
Definitely an interesting article! When I first saw your title I thought this blog was going to be about “Sleeping Bacteria,” like how they slept? I don’t even know if that makes sense but this article definitely shared some interesting news to myself about microbes. It’s amazing, but then again “scary,” like you said, that these bacteria can actually “go to sleep” so that they won’t be harmed by the antibiotics. I recently wrote a blog about antibiotics and bacteria. In my blog I talked about something kind of similar. Some antibiotics are actually causing these bacteria to “thrive” and these bacteria could actually be considered “super resistant.” My blog is kind of similar in the sense that these bacteria are actually “defeating” these antibiotics. Like you said, we rely on antibiotics and medicine to treat us! I too would also be interested in seeing on how scientists overcome this challenge. Microbes seem to be having a “counterattack” for anything scientists, researchers, or people throw at them!
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Nice connection you made between the two blogs Angelo. Mariah, great topics that I didn't know about. I love learning new things!
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