A problem presented in the medical and microbiology field recently has been bacteria and their resistance to antibiotics. Scientists are closing in on a new "antibiotic". This new method of possibly destroying unwanted infectious bacteria in humans is simply using a polypeptide produced and created specifically for this reason and no other reason. The idea behind this new polypeptide is that it will be used in actually attacking bacteria's cell walls. The way the polypeptide works is that it is able to somehow perforate the cell walls of targeted bacteria, whether they are gram positive or gram negative. With this happening, it seems that the number one thing any bacterium needs is a cell wall to be able to live. When the cell walls are attacked and perforated, it makes it easier for the bacteria to be attacked by other introduced antibiotics being used and the immune system itself can easily attack and rid the human body of the unwanted bacteria. The major problem associated with this idea though has been the way of introducing it into the human body. Since these polypeptides do not interact well with liquid environments, they have created positive charged ions to attach to the polypeptides to keep them protected. Doing this as well helps in being attracted to bacterium because of the bacteria having negatively charged cell walls. Studies are still being done on this method to help narrow it down to only being attracted to bacteria. The only question that I can think of presenting is that of what if there is a bacteria infection that involves bacteria with positively charged cell walls, this poses a possible problem.
Here is the link to the article:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Bacterial hole puncher could be new broad-spectrum antibiotic." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 October 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151029102236.htm.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151029102236.htm
Interesting, even though it wouldn't work for all kinds of bacteria. I know most have a cell wall (whether gram + or gram -), but there are types out there without one (such as mycoplasma). That difference would probably make it difficult to make a universal antibiotic.
ReplyDeleteThese researcher's idea though is definitely a great idea since the majority of bacteria that infect us have a cell wall anyway.
This article was very intriguing. if there are any bacteria that have positively charged cell walls, I they would just be able to make negative ions to attach to the polypeptide.
ReplyDeleteDoes it matter at all what the cell-wall is made from? Or are all pathogenic bacteria that don't have peptidoglycan cell walls?
ReplyDeleteAn antibiotic like this would be awesome if it could reduce bacterial resistance. I would be interested in seeing where this research goes even with the possible problems discussed.
ReplyDeleteIn theory if it could work and they are able to figure out the so called kinks, what's to say that our bodies won't eventually create a means to become resistant to that as well? I'm a firm believe of taking antibiotics when necessary, but I also think it comes at a price. You hear of people who are constantly taking medicines because they're sick or have a reoccurring issue that is treated with antibiotics regularly, well the more you take them the more likely your body is going to develop a resistance and not work. I think we as a society have become too dependent on medicine instead of letting our bodies figure it out on its own and if necessary, take the antibiotics when needed. But for those ailments where antibiotics are known to be resistant, this would be a great alternative, especially in counties where TB has been shown to be resistant.
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