The multi-resistance of bacteria to highly potent antibiotics is attracting the attention of scientists around the world. To prevent this “silent pandemic” from worsening, a team of researchers in Singapore has adopted an innovative methodology: using microscopic networks to trap and kill bacteria in the body. Researchers have successfully used thesenano-networks”, which are made up of molecules known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), to tackle E. coli and S. aureus in laboratory tests. These bacteria cause food poisoning and boils, respectively, and have been found to be resistant to even the strongest antibiotics available today.
Synthetically recreating these nano-networks to trap and kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria is nothing new, but the team’s work has helped advance the field, said Associate Professor Rachel Ee of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Pharmacy , who co-led the team with his colleague from the same department, Associate Professor Rajamani Lakshminarayanan. “In previous attempts to form synthetic nano-networks from AMPs to trap and kill bacteria, AMPs could only form short, disconnected strands of molecules, which could not intertwine very well with bacteria.”, he has declared. “By modifying the chemical compositions of previously used AMPs, our team’s peptides could self-assemble into extended and crosslinked nano-networks, which are more suitable for physically trapping and immobilizing bacterial cells. Associate Professor Surajit Bhattacharyya of Nanyang Technological University’s School of Biological Sciences, who was not involved in the study, said the Singapore team’s new way of killing bacterial cells broadens the horizon for the development of new antimicrobials, which it is “extremely necessary”.