Sucrose-fermenting colonies of Vibrio cholerae on TCBS agar.
Key points:
- Researchers have uncovered the evolutionary origins of antibiotic resistance.
- They targeted genetic variants of a protein found in bacterial membranes called OmpU.
- By understanding how mutations occur, scientists can develop more effective ways to combat resistant infections.
Antibacterial resistance is a major public health threat—one that is increasing instead of decreasing. Researchers across the globe are searching for alternatives to antibiotics, issuing guidelines, and sharing other helpful data and policies to try to get the crisis under control.
Salvador Almagro-Moreno, a microbiologist at the University of Central Florida, went back to the beginning for his research. His studies on Vibrio cholerae—the bacteria that causes cholera—uncover the evolutionary origins of antibiotic resistance and provide insight into deciphering what conditions must occur for infectious agents to become resistant.
Almagro-Moreno and team studied genetic variants of a protein found in bacterial membranes called OmpU. Using computational and molecular approaches, the team found that several OmpU mutations in Vibrio cholerae led to resistance to numerous antimicrobial agents. This resistance included antimicrobial peptides that act as defenses in the human gut.
According to the study, published in PLoS Genetics, researchers discovered that other OmpU variants did not provide these properties, making it the ideal system for deciphering the processes that occur to make some bacteria resistant to antimicrobials.
By comparing resistant and antibiotic sensitive variants, the researchers were able to identify specific parts of OmpU associated with the emergence of antibiotic resistance. They also discovered that the genetic material encoding these variants, along with associated traits, can be passed between bacterial cells, increasing the risk of spreading resistance in populations under antibiotic pressure.
By understanding how mutations occur, researchers and scientists can develop more effective ways to combat resistant infections.