Unseen Soldiers - How Microbes Help Scientists Fight Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance

It is considered to be the ability of bacteria and other microorganisms to adapt to antibiotic drugs, which makes the drug ineffective at stopping their growth, and enables the bacteria to avoid destruction. It often occurs as a consequence of long-term use of antibiotics and using them without a prescription. Antibiotic resistance is deadly, as it can later lead to longer hospital stays, recurring illnesses, and fatalities from completely curable diseases. The uncontrolled use of them by one person can give rise to a resistant strain that will affect the general public, making it an immediate global health predicament. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness about it, advise people to follow the proper guidelines, and consult a physician before using medicine.

How Does Resistance Spread?

When it comes to germs, time flies. A mutation that results in antibiotic resistance may arise with each generation, which can happen in as little as 17 minutes. Since each of us has millions of bacteria in our bodies, there is a slim chance that one of them will evolve a resistance mechanism to an antibiotic. Since millions of people constantly use antibiotics, there is a good chance that resistance may develop. However, bacteria can also develop resistance by horizontal gene transfer, which is a different method of genetic material transmission between organisms than "vertical" transfer from parent to child. This allows bacteria that have never been exposed to an antibiotic to develop resistance to it, and it can happen amongst bacteria of different species. This implies that resistance to antibiotics can spread quickly and among different bacterial species.

Phage Therapy

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that specifically infect and eliminate bacteria. They are the most prevalent natural entities, playing vital roles in controlling bacterial populations and impacting microbial ecosystems. Phages are beneficial because they can eradicate bacteria that have developed resistance to drugs like antibiotics. Phages exhibit a remarkable specificity towards their bacterial hosts, meaning they target specific bacteria. They do not infect human cells, but rather, they have the ability to target and eliminate bacteria that may cause disease, all while preserving the body's normal microbiota and minimising significant side effects. Phage therapy can be customised to address individual bacterial infections, particularly those that exhibit resistance to antibiotics. Furthermore, phages can be combined to create mixtures that effectively target the most common infections. They can also be used in conjunction with antibiotics to enhance treatment efficacy, especially in cases involving antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the field of medicine, phages have been described as a form of "personalised medicine," as they represent a group of treatments tailored to meet the unique needs of each patient.

Faecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT)

Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a medical procedure to transplant a small sample of stool (faeces) from a healthy colon into a diseased colon. Each healthy stool sample contains thousands of beneficial microbiota that can improve the health of the diseased colon in a variety of ways. According to a recent study, FMT is helpful in reducing antibiotic resistance genes and changing the expression of resistance genes, particularly in individuals who have recurrent Clostridium difficile infections. FMT is thought to restore the native microbiota and create a range of gut microbiome compositions in individuals by replacing multidrug-resistant organisms with benign bacteria.

CRISPR - Cas9 System

The most cutting-edge and successful strategy for combating antibiotic resistance is CRISPR-Cas9-based therapy. The CRISPR-Cas9 system, a recently discovered innate defence mechanism, is present in the majority of archaeal and bacterial members. It immunises and protects the cell from a second invasion by bacteriophage attack. These members use an endogenous Cas9 protein, which is directed by a particular short RNA sequence processed from prior foreign DNA encounters, to target and destroy the invasive DNA. The CRISPR-Cas9 system can be used as a versatile gene-editing tool to resensitize or even kill bacteria to the antibiotics by changing antibiotic-resistant or exclusive housekeeping genes on plasmids or the genomes of certain infections. Because of its very selective mechanism of action, the technique can even target specific harmful bacteria in the infection site without impacting the entire microbial community.

Conclusion

One of the most important global health issues of our day is antibiotic resistance, but humans are not the only ones fighting it. The important but frequently disregarded function of microorganisms as partners in the fight against resistant infections is highlighted in this review. These invisible soldiers create a complex ecological network that can be used to improve therapeutic results and restore microbial balance. They do this by producing natural antibiotics and competitive inhibitors and by modifying microbial communities through processes like quorum sensing and bacteriophage activity. In addition to expanding our strategy beyond traditional antibiotics, comprehending and utilising microbial interactions creates new opportunities for biologically based, long-lasting resistance-fighting tactics. It is becoming more and more obvious that the way forward is to work with bacteria, not against them, to safeguard the future of antimicrobial therapy, as research continues to reveal the complex cooperation within the microbial world.

References

Arka Moitra, Chakraborty, A., & Dam, B. (2024). CRISPR-Cas9 system: a potent tool to fight antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The Microbe, 5, 100184–100184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microb.2024.100184

Cleveland Clinic. (2023, October 19). Antibiotic Resistance. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/21655-antibiotic-resistance

Foxman, B. (2019, November 21). The Human Microbiome and Its Role in the Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance. Umich.edu; University of Michigan School of Public Health.

https://sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2019posts/human-microbiome-and-fight-against-antimicrobial-resistance.html

Habboush, Y., & Guzman, N. (2023, June 20). Antibiotic Resistance. National Library of Medicine; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513277/

Hyun, J., Lee, S. K., Cheon, J. H., Yong, D. E., Koh, H., Kang, Y. K., Kim, M. H., Sohn, Y., Cho, Y., Baek, Y. J., Kim, J. H., Ahn, J. Y., Jeong, S. J., Yeom, J. S., & Choi, J. Y. (2022). Faecal microbiota transplantation reduces amounts of antibiotic resistance genes in patients with multidrug-resistant organisms. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-022-01064-4