Can cannibalism fight infections?
Whenever humans create a new antibiotic, deadly bacteria can counter it by turning into new, indestructible super-bugs. That’s why bacterial infection is the number one killer in hospitals today. But new research from Tel Aviv University may give drug developers the upper hand in outsmarting bacteria once and for all. The secret weapon against a colony of bacteria may be to stress it with its own protection system, which forces it to reduce its population through cannibalism. “Our studies suggest this is a new way to fight off bacteria,” says Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob, an award-winning scientist from Tel Aviv University’s School of Physics and Astronomy. “If we expose the entire colony to the very same chemical signals that the bacteria produce to fend off competition, they’ll do the work for us and kill each other. This strategy seems very promising –– it’s highly unlikely that the bacteria will develop resistance to a compound that they themselves produce.” A Sophisticated Secret Weapon
