Fighting Dirty Against Antibiotic Resistance

Last year we were a tad doom and gloom regarding the global health crisis of antibiotic resistance. Even Prime Minister David Cameron was in on it, stating that we could soon be “cast back into the dark ages of medicine” as a result of the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance. We painted a pretty bleak picture… total drama queens!

Since the golden age in antibiotic discovery during the 50's and 60's, research has ground to a halt: no new class of antibiotic has been discovered in 30 years. Additionally, a worrying trend has emerged: diseases we thought we had controlled are becoming resistant, such as tuberculosis and the dreaded bacterial infection MRSA.

But, however bleak the situation is, we can rest assured that lots of clever scientists are on the case. In fact, 2015 has brought an exciting development in the fight back against antibiotic resistance from the most surprising source – common garden soil!

Surprisingly, many of our antibiotics have been discovered by studying microorganisms that live in soil, however, in the 60s researchers hit a brick wall in terms of the technology used. Soil is teaming with bacteria and represents an untapped source of new antibiotics, but bacteria isolated from soil don’t grow well under laboratory conditions - think bright white lights, clean white surfaces and people in white coats – not a nice environment if you have spent your life swimming around in mud!

In response to this problem Ling et al. developed techniques to grow organisms from the soil by cultivating them in their natural environment. Genius! Why did no one think of that sooner? Essentially the team diluted a sample of soil so that a single bacterium sat in its own little chamber. It was then covered over with a membrane to separate the bacterium from the soil (which the chamber was buried in) while allowing nutrients in the soil to diffuse through to the bacterium. Using this clever, but simple method, the team have so far discovered 25 potential new antibiotics. Teixobactin shows the most promise, it’s toxic to bacteria but not mammalian tissues and, excitingly, it is effective against the dreaded MRSA.

So we say thanks to these researchers, and the many others all over the world, who are fighting back against antibiotic resistance. And lets not forget humble, ordinary, glorious mud!

Photo credits: Northeastern University

Author - Louise Tibbetts