{"id":438242,"date":"2023-03-07T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=438242"},"modified":"2023-03-07T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T05:30:00","slug":"a-new-optical-tool-helps-to-detect-how-bacteria-communicate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/a-new-optical-tool-helps-to-detect-how-bacteria-communicate\/","title":{"rendered":"A new optical tool helps to detect how bacteria communicate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bacteria communication has always been somewhat of a grey area in the scientific community. Now, a new optical tool<\/a> will help scientists understand bacterial electrical signalling far better than ever before. The device opens new insights into antimicrobial resistance, pharmaceutical efficency and infection control. The study<\/a> involved researchers from Milan\u2019s Politecnico<\/a> and the British University of Warwick<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bioelectric communication and biological processes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giuseppe Patern\u00f2, assistant professor at the Department of Physics at Politecnico di Milano, explains what the significance of this new methodical approach is. He says that the aim of the study was to try and manipulate bioelectric activity in bacteria. \u201cIt is important because, for a little over ten years now, it has turned out that bioelectric communication is relevant when it comes to the regulation of some biological processes, such as the influx and efflux of pharmaceutical drugs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, bacteria communicate through bioelectrical signalling, for example, as a way to regulate and share nutrients with each other. Neurons in our brain act in an analogous way, although the scientific community has known this for decades. For bacteria, this has only recently been demonstrated. Therefore, some of the communication pathways between bacteria still need to be characterised and classified. These pathways, called ‘ion channels’, are the equivalent of a cell’s ‘mouth’. In fact, they are the main conduit for interaction between cells.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Machine learning identifies antibiotic resistant bacteria<\/div>
Experts from the University of Nottingham have developed a ground-breaking software, which combines DNA sequencing and machine learning to help them find where, and to what extent, antibiotic resistant bacteria is being transmitted between humans, animals and the environment.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The tool<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The optical tool, which Patern\u00f2 describes as an “antenna” embedded in the membrane of a very small bacterial cell, makes the cell sensitive to light and allows it to interact with other cells. This allows scientists to study their communication patterns and characterise their “language”. In technical terms, this is called “phototransduction<\/em>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be precise, the antenna is stimulated by a beam of light and, in a remote and non-invasive way, changes the electrical properties of the whole cell. In order to reacquire its original electric state and spatial conformation, the cell sends bioelectric signals which scientists are able to analyse.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
3D printing with bacteria creates bone-like composite<\/div>
Researchers at the Technical University of Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a method for 3D printing with an ink made from calcium carbonate-producing bacteria. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

What purpose does it serve?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The practical application of this analysis method could shed new light on antimicrobial resistance, thereby optimising the efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs and obtaining better results with their synthetization and dosage. How, though?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, some cells are less inclined to communicate, even when stimulated by the optical tool developed by the Politecnico team. “In some cases, resistance to external stimuli, and therefore to antimicrobial drugs, can be identified by a resistance to communication,” says Patern\u00f2. “These cells are in a so-called “dormant” state, but they’re not dead. Moreover, they have a tendency to pass this state on to neighbouring cells”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guiding “good bacteria” through organisms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, in a community of cells, some sections become unresponsive not only electrically but also receptively, which means that they do not absorb drugs like antibiotics as well as their active counterparts. It is through small groups of dormant cells that antibiotic resistance can eventually spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correlation between a cell’s ability to communicate and its receptivity is not a given, but Patern\u00f2 says that previous studies have shown that, in general, “cells that are bioelectrically dormant are also pharmacologically dormant”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The potential use of “good” (non-pathogenic) bacteria for the targeted transport of useful substances between organisms is another functional application of this technology. “Bacteria move around. – In principle, we could engineer them to go where we want them to go by stimulating them through the phototransducer and guiding them remotely by changing their direction and speed.” However, this still needs to be scientifically proven and, according to Patern\u00f2, will be object of future studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bacteria communication has always been somewhat of a grey area in the scientific community. Now, a new optical tool will help scientists understand bacterial electrical signalling far better than ever before. The device opens new insights into antimicrobial resistance, pharmaceutical efficency and infection control. The study involved researchers from Milan\u2019s Politecnico and the British University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2583,"featured_media":495315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34665,76370],"tags":[41822,30066,49966,76365,76367,53525],"location":[47626],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-438242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-science","tag-antibiotica-en","tag-bacteria","tag-cells","tag-milan-politecnico","tag-optical-tool","tag-university-of-warwick","location-italy","article_type-features"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"By better understanding the communication capabilities of bacteria, something can be done about the problem of anti-bacterial resistance.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Francesco Morelli","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/francesco-morelli\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blue-Bacteria.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Health<\/a>","Science<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Health<\/span>","Science<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["antibiotica<\/a>","bacteria<\/a>","cells<\/a>","Milan Politecnico<\/a>","optical tool<\/a>","University of Warwick<\/a>"],"unlinked":["antibiotica<\/span>","bacteria<\/span>","cells<\/span>","Milan Politecnico<\/span>","optical tool<\/span>","University of Warwick<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 7, 2023","modified":"Updated on March 7, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 7, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on March 7, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2583"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=438242"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=438242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}