Learning from losers. - Related Documents




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910801.0000Learning from losers. Bacteria can overcome environmental challenges by killing nearby bacteria and incorporating their DNA.201729148975
959410.9993Electroactive Smart Materials: Novel Tools for Tailoring Bacteria Behavior and Fight Antimicrobial Resistance. Despite being very simple organisms, bacteria possess an outstanding ability to adapt to different environments. Their long evolutionary history, being exposed to vastly different physicochemical surroundings, allowed them to detect and respond to a wide range of signals including biochemical, mechanical, electrical, and magnetic ones. Taking into consideration their adapting mechanisms, it is expected that novel materials able to provide bacteria with specific stimuli in a biomimetic context may tailor their behavior and make them suitable for specific applications in terms of anti-microbial and pro-microbial approaches. This review maintains that electroactive smart materials will be a future approach to be explored in microbiology to obtain novel strategies for fighting the emergence of live threatening antibiotic resistance.201931681752
910720.9993A versatile pH-responsive peptide based dynamic biointerface for tracking bacteria killing and infection resistance. Herein we reported a versatile dynamic biointerface based on pH-responsive peptide self-assembly and disassembly to capture the bacteria to avoid bacteria further infected tissue around that can release peptides from the surface in a slightly acidic environment to kill the bacteria with the specificity. The exposed biointerface still presented infection resistance.202134350905
914930.9992Smart Multifunctional Polymer Systems as Alternatives or Supplements of Antibiotics To Overcome Bacterial Resistance. In recent years, infectious diseases have again become a critical threat to global public health largely due to the challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance. Conventional antibiotics have played a crucial role in combating bacterial infections; however, their efficacy is significantly impaired by widespread drug resistance. Natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and their polymeric mimics demonstrate great potential for killing bacteria with low propensity of resistance as they target the microbial membrane rather than a specific molecular target, but they are also toxic to the host eukaryotic cells. To minimize antibiotics systemic spread and the required dose that promote resistance and to advocate practical realization of the promising activity of AMPs and polymers, smart systems to target bacteria are highly sought after. This review presents bacterial recognition by various specific targeting molecules and the delivery systems of active components in supramolecules. Bacteria-induced activations of antimicrobial-based nanoformulations are also included. Recent advances in the bacteria targeting and delivery of synthetic antimicrobial agents may assist in developing new classes of highly selective antimicrobial systems which can improve bactericidal efficacy and greatly minimize the spread of bacterial resistance.202235471022
938940.9992Individual bacteria in structured environments rely on phenotypic resistance to phage. Bacteriophages represent an avenue to overcome the current antibiotic resistance crisis, but evolution of genetic resistance to phages remains a concern. In vitro, bacteria evolve genetic resistance, preventing phage adsorption or degrading phage DNA. In natural environments, evolved resistance is lower possibly because the spatial heterogeneity within biofilms, microcolonies, or wall populations favours phenotypic survival to lytic phages. However, it is also possible that the persistence of genetically sensitive bacteria is due to less efficient phage amplification in natural environments, the existence of refuges where bacteria can hide, and a reduced spread of resistant genotypes. Here, we monitor the interactions between individual planktonic bacteria in isolation in ephemeral refuges and bacteriophage by tracking the survival of individual cells. We find that in these transient spatial refuges, phenotypic resistance due to reduced expression of the phage receptor is a key determinant of bacterial survival. This survival strategy is in contrast with the emergence of genetic resistance in the absence of ephemeral refuges in well-mixed environments. Predictions generated via a mathematical modelling framework to track bacterial response to phages reveal that the presence of spatial refuges leads to fundamentally different population dynamics that should be considered in order to predict and manipulate the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of bacteria-phage interactions in naturally structured environments.202134637438
948550.9992Evolution of Drug Resistance in Bacteria. Resistance to antibiotics is an important and timely problem of contemporary medicine. Rapid evolution of resistant bacteria calls for new preventive measures to slow down this process, and a longer-term progress cannot be achieved without a good understanding of the mechanisms through which drug resistance is acquired and spreads in microbial populations. Here, we discuss recent experimental and theoretical advances in our knowledge how the dynamics of microbial populations affects the evolution of antibiotic resistance . We focus on the role of spatial and temporal drug gradients and show that in certain situations bacteria can evolve de novo resistance within hours. We identify factors that lead to such rapid onset of resistance and discuss their relevance for bacterial infections.201627193537
966860.9992Genomic and functional techniques to mine the microbiome for novel antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance genes. Microbial communities contain diverse bacteria that play important roles in every environment. Advances in sequencing and computational methodologies over the past decades have illuminated the phylogenetic and functional diversity of microbial communities from diverse habitats. Among the activities encoded in microbiomes are the abilities to synthesize and resist small molecules, yielding antimicrobial activity. These functions are of particular interest when viewed in light of the public health emergency posed by the increase in clinical antimicrobial resistance and the dwindling antimicrobial discovery and approval pipeline, and given the intimate ecological and evolutionary relationship between antimicrobial biosynthesis and resistance. Here, we review genomic and functional methods that have been developed for accessing the antimicrobial biosynthesis and resistance capacity of microbiomes and highlight outstanding examples of their applications.201727768825
948470.9992Phage-antibiotic combinations: a promising approach to constrain resistance evolution in bacteria. Antibiotic resistance has reached dangerously high levels throughout the world. A growing number of bacteria pose an urgent, serious, and concerning threat to public health. Few new antibiotics are available to clinicians and only few are in development, highlighting the need for new strategies to overcome the antibiotic resistance crisis. Combining existing antibiotics with phages, viruses the infect bacteria, is an attractive and promising alternative to standalone therapies. Phage-antibiotic combinations have been shown to suppress the emergence of resistance in bacteria, and sometimes even reverse it. Here, we discuss the mechanisms by which phage-antibiotic combinations reduce resistance evolution, and the potential limitations these mechanisms have in steering microbial resistance evolution in a desirable direction. We also emphasize the importance of gaining a better understanding of mechanisms behind physiological and evolutionary phage-antibiotic interactions in complex in-patient environments.202133175408
967180.9992Genome-scale genetic manipulation methods for exploring bacterial molecular biology. Bacteria are diverse and abundant, playing key roles in human health and disease, the environment, and biotechnology. Despite progress in genome sequencing and bioengineering, much remains unknown about the functional organization of prokaryotes. For instance, roughly a third of the protein-coding genes of the best-studied model bacterium, Escherichia coli, currently lack experimental annotations. Systems-level experimental approaches for investigating the functional associations of bacterial genes and genetic structures are essential for defining the fundamental molecular biology of microbes, preventing the spread of antibacterial resistance in the clinic, and driving the development of future biotechnological applications. This review highlights recently introduced large-scale genetic manipulation and screening procedures for the systematic exploration of bacterial gene functions, molecular relationships, and the global organization of bacteria at the gene, pathway, and genome levels.201222517266
972090.9992Molecular Evolution and Origins of Antibiotic Resistance Genes. Antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis with bacteria resisting both natural and synthetic antibiotics. While all antibiotic classes face similar mechanistic and evolutionary forces, their origins shape distinct resistance pathways. Produced over millions of years, natural antibiotics drove the early emergence and coevolution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), later spreading with clinical use. By contrast, synthetic antibiotics began without pre-existing ARGs, yet bacteria soon adapted novel approaches to overcome them. In this perspective, we examine recent findings on ARG evolution, including their distribution in environmental bacteria, host range, and underlying molecular mechanisms of ARGs for bacterial adaptation against these antibiotics. To address these questions, we emphasize the urgent need for comprehensive studies to uncover the full range, distribution, and evolution of ARGs. Understanding these processes not only aids in developing effective strategies to combat ARGs but also provides critical insights into protein chemistry and advances protein engineering approaches.202540457171
9580100.9992Antibiotic resistance in bacterial communities. Bacteria are single-celled organisms, but the survival of microbial communities relies on complex dynamics at the molecular, cellular, and ecosystem scales. Antibiotic resistance, in particular, is not just a property of individual bacteria or even single-strain populations, but depends heavily on the community context. Collective community dynamics can lead to counterintuitive eco-evolutionary effects like survival of less resistant bacterial populations, slowing of resistance evolution, or population collapse, yet these surprising behaviors are often captured by simple mathematical models. In this review, we highlight recent progress - in many cases, advances driven by elegant combinations of quantitative experiments and theoretical models - in understanding how interactions between bacteria and with the environment affect antibiotic resistance, from single-species populations to multispecies communities embedded in an ecosystem.202337054512
9472110.9992Bacteriophage and Bacterial Susceptibility, Resistance, and Tolerance to Antibiotics. Bacteriophages, viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria, impact bacterial responses to antibiotics in complex ways. Recent studies using lytic bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections (phage therapy) demonstrate that phages can promote susceptibility to chemical antibiotics and that phage/antibiotic synergy is possible. However, both lytic and lysogenic bacteriophages can contribute to antimicrobial resistance. In particular, some phages mediate the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria via transduction and other mechanisms. In addition, chronic infection filamentous phages can promote antimicrobial tolerance, the ability of bacteria to persist in the face of antibiotics. In particular, filamentous phages serve as structural elements in bacterial biofilms and prevent the penetration of antibiotics. Over time, these contributions to antibiotic tolerance favor the selection of resistance clones. Here, we review recent insights into bacteriophage contributions to antibiotic susceptibility, resistance, and tolerance. We discuss the mechanisms involved in these effects and address their impact on bacterial fitness.202235890320
9582120.9992Humans and Microbes: A Systems Theory Perspective on Coevolution. The issue of rapid adaptation of microorganisms to changing environments is examined. The mechanism of adaptive mutations is analyzed. The possibility that horizontal gene transfer is a random process is discussed. Bacteria, unicellular fungi, and other microorganisms successfully adapt to fast-changing conditions (such as exposure to drugs) because their evolution is not a random process. Adaptation to antibiotics, adaptive mutations, and related phenomena occur because microbial evolution is inherently directed and purposefully oriented toward potential external changes. Rejecting gene-centricity plays a crucial role in understanding the coevolution of humans and pathogens. This means that beyond genes, there exists a higher-level system-an organism with its own unique properties that cannot be reduced to genes. The problem of human adaptation to infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, and protozoa) is also analyzed. Based on general systems theory, it is concluded that humans and pathogens coevolve in a controlled manner.202541176022
9591130.9992Interaction of phages, bacteria, and the human immune system: Evolutionary changes in phage therapy. Phages and bacteria are known to undergo dynamic and co-evolutionary arms race interactions in order to survive. Recent advances from in vitro and in vivo studies have improved our understanding of the complex interactions between phages, bacteria, and the human immune system. This insight is essential for the development of phage therapy to battle the growing problems of antibiotic resistance. It is also pivotal to prevent the development of phage-resistance during the implementation of phage therapy in the clinic. In this review, we discuss recent progress of the interactions between phages, bacteria, and the human immune system and its clinical application for phage therapy. Proper phage therapy design will ideally produce large burst sizes, short latent periods, broad host ranges, and a low tendency to select resistance.201931145517
9585140.9992When Humans Met Superbugs: Strategies to Tackle Bacterial Resistances to Antibiotics. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics poses enormous health and economic burdens to our society, and it is of the essence to explore old and new ways to deal with these problems. Here we review the current status of multi-resistance genes and how they spread among bacteria. We discuss strategies to deal with resistant bacteria, namely the search for new targets and the use of inhibitors of protein-protein interactions, fragment-based methods, or modified antisense RNAs. Finally, we discuss integrated approaches that consider bacterial populations and their niches, as well as the role of global regulators that activate and/or repress the expression of multiple genes in fluctuating environments and, therefore, enable resistant bacteria to colonize new niches. Understanding how the global regulatory circuits work is, probably, the best way to tackle bacterial resistance.201830811343
9588150.9992Bacteriophage-host arm race: an update on the mechanism of phage resistance in bacteria and revenge of the phage with the perspective for phage therapy. Due to a constant attack by phage, bacteria in the environment have evolved diverse mechanisms to defend themselves. Several reviews on phage resistance mechanisms have been published elsewhere. Thanks to the advancement of molecular techniques, several new phage resistance mechanisms were recently identified. For the practical phage therapy, the emergence of phage-resistant bacteria could be an obstacle. However, unlike antibiotic, phages could evolve a mechanism to counter-adapt against phage-resistant bacteria. In this review, we summarized the most recent studies of the phage-bacteria arm race with the perspective of future applications of phages as antimicrobial agents.201930680434
9190160.9992Phage-based biocontrol strategies and their application in agriculture and aquaculture. Meeting global food demands for a growing human population with finite natural resources is a major challenge. Aquaculture and agriculture are critical to satisfy food requirements, yet suffer significant losses from bacterial diseases. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel antimicrobial strategies, which is heightened by increasing antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria, and phage-derived therapies are promising treatments in the fight against bacterial diseases. Here, we describe multiple ways that phages and phage-based technologies can be used as antimicrobials. Antimicrobial activity can be achieved through lysis of targeted bacteria by virulent phages or lytic enzymes. Alternatively, phages can be engineered for the delivery of lethal genes and other cargoes to kill bacteria and to manipulate the bacterial response to conventional antibiotics. We also briefly highlight research exploring phages as potential biocontrol agents with examples from agriculture and aquaculture.201830514766
9700170.9991Predation and selection for antibiotic resistance in natural environments. Genes encoding resistance to antibiotics appear, like the antibiotics themselves, to be ancient, originating long before the rise of the era of anthropogenic antibiotics. However, detailed understanding of the specific biological advantages of antibiotic resistance in natural environments is still lacking, thus limiting our efforts to prevent environmental influx of resistance genes. Here, we propose that antibiotic-resistant cells not only evade predation from antibiotic producers but also take advantage of nutrients released from cells that are killed by the antibiotic-producing bacteria. Thus, predation is potentially an important mechanism for driving antibiotic resistance during slow or stationary phase of growth when nutrients are deprived. This adds to explain the ancient nature and widespread occurrence of antibiotic resistance in natural environments unaffected by anthropogenic antibiotics. In particular, we suggest that nutrient-poor environments including indoor environments, for example, clean rooms and intensive care units may serve as a reservoir and source for antibiotic-producing as well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria.201626989434
9531180.9991How to Evaluate Non-Growing Cells-Current Strategies for Determining Antimicrobial Resistance of VBNC Bacteria. Thanks to the achievements in sanitation, hygiene practices, and antibiotics, we have considerably improved in our ongoing battle against pathogenic bacteria. However, with our increasing knowledge about the complex bacterial lifestyles and cycles and their plethora of defense mechanisms, it is clear that the fight is far from over. One of these resistance mechanisms that has received increasing attention is the ability to enter a dormancy state termed viable but non-culturable (VBNC). Bacteria that enter the VBNC state, either through unfavorable environmental conditions or through potentially lethal stress, lose their ability to grow on standard enrichment media, but show a drastically increased tolerance against antimicrobials including antibiotics. The inability to utilize traditional culture-based methods represents a considerable experimental hurdle to investigate their increased antimicrobial resistance and impedes the development and evaluation of effective treatments or interventions against bacteria in the VBNC state. Although experimental approaches were developed to detect and quantify VBNCs, only a few have been utilized for antimicrobial resistance screening and this review aims to provide an overview of possible methodological approaches.202133530321
8626190.9991Challenges Associated With the Use of Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles as Antimicrobial Agents: A Review of Resistance Mechanisms and Environmental Implications. The use of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles has been suggested as a means of combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). This is due to the ability of nanoparticles to target numerous sites inside the bacterial cell. Microbes can, however, develop a resistance to hazardous environments. Soil microorganisms have evolved resistance to specific metals in soil by employing alternative survival strategies, like those adopted against antibiotics. Because of this survival mechanism, bacteria have been able to develop defense mechanisms to deal with metallic nanoparticles. Resistance has evolved in human pathogens to therapies that use metallic nanoparticles, such as silver nanoparticles. Metallic nanoparticles and antibiotics have currently been proven to be ineffective against several infections. Due to these concerns, scientists are investigating whether nanoparticles might cause environmental harm and potentially breed microbes that are resistant to both inorganic and organic nanoparticles. The increased use of inorganic nanoparticles has thus been shown to result in contaminations in wastewater, facilitating horizontal gene transfer among bacterial populations. The resistance mechanism of metallic nanoparticles, role in antibiotic resistance, and a potential solution to the environment's toxicity from nanoparticles are all discussed in this review.202540711446