Recorded for the first time in video transformation of bacteria in a Superbug
It was in may 2016, when it unveiled the discovery ofa bacterium resistant to all types of existing medication.
It was a strain of the bacteriumEscherichia coliwhich is resistant to the antibiotic of last resort (colistin) and that was detected in a 49 year old patient with urinary tract infection in Pennsylvania, United States.
This corresponds to an example of callssuperbugs.According to the website ofMayo Clinicthesuperbugsthey are all those strains of bacteria resistant to most antibiotics.
The aforementioned medium adds that this resistance develops in a natural way. And even though it may be delayed, you can not stop.
But how is that bacteria reach this resistance?Basically, absorbing their dead "partners".
This is confirmed by a new video recorded by scientists from the University of Indiana, United States.
As it indicates the site specializing in scientific topicsScience AlertIt is the first time that it manages to capture with a camera this phenomenon.
In the sequence, you can see two bacteria' Vibrio cholerae'responsible for causing cholera in humans.
Suddenly, one of them displays itsPilus-structure in the form of hair located on the surface of bacteria - and begins to devour the fragment of a dead bacterium.
Using this technique, it can absorb theDNAother bacteria, by incorporating their skills (being the antibiotic resistance one of them). This allows you to evolve to reach Superbug status.
That Yes, this can happen even between two living bacteria, process that he is known as "bacterial conjugation".
"Horizontal gene transfer is the way that have the bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics. Howeverthe process had never been observed previously"due to the involved structures are incredibly small", commentedAnkur Dalia, biologist at Indiana University Bloomington.
"It is important to understand the process, because while we know more about how the bacteria they share their DNA, best will be our ability to thwart it," he added.
Then you leave with the moment in which the bacterium becomes a Superbug.
