Researchers at KU Leuven have designed a new antibacterial method that disrupts their cooperation ability. This strategy is unique as it presents no risk of antibiotic resistance, as typically seen with conventional antibiotic drugs. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.
Rather than attacking the individual bacterium in order to kill it directly, their novel strategy focuses on the disruption of the biofilm. Biofilm is a protective slime layer that covers the entire bacterial community. By disrupting their ability to cooperate and block slime production, bacterial survival weakens making them easier to rid of. Researchers utilized a chemical, antibacterial substance previously developed at KU Leuven.
Professor Steenackers, lead author of the study, said “Without their protective slime layer, the bacteria can be washed away by mechanical forces and killed more easily by antibiotics, disinfectants or the immune system”. He continued, "We saw that the bacteria, as a group, did not become resistant to our antibacterial substance, while this did happen with antibiotics, and quickly so. Moreover, we showed those bacteria that were resistant to the new antibacterial substance became outnumbered by non-resistant ones.”