Towards commercial application of a novel method to prevent and remove bacterial biofilms

预防和去除细菌生物膜的新方法的商业应用

• 批准号: NE/I01523X/1
• 负责人: Grant Burgess
• 金额: $ 17.63万
• 依托单位: Newcastle University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FI01523X%2F1
• 关键词: Towards; commercial; application; novel; method

Biofilms are made up of bacteria or fungi growing in large communities enclosed in a layer of slime. These microbial biofilms can be easily found in home, often growing on wet surfaces (such as bathroom tiles, taps and water pipes). Normally these biofilms pose little risk to people and can easily be removed by standard cleaning products. However, in both healthcare and industry microbes growing in biofilms can cause a multitude of serious problems. In industrial environments / industry the build up of slimes on surfaces leads to many different problems associated with the clogging of pipes and machinery. In the home microbial slimes lead to problems such as the staining of shower curtains and the build up of slime in the pipes and trays of dishwashers and washing machines. Much more serious problems can occur in healthcare environments. The slime layer of a biofilm encapsulates the microbe which made it. This provides a protective barrier between the microbe and its environment. In the case of a bacterial infection in a person (such as an Staphylococcus aureus wound infection, commonly found in recovering hospital patients) the biofilms are very difficult to remove and they make the infectious bacteria highly resistant to antibiotics. It is therefore extremely difficult to cure a bacterial biofilm infection often resulting in patient fatalities. In fact bacterial and fungal biofilms play a highly significant role in large number of medical conditions, from serious infectious diseases to conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis. Biofilms are also involved in infections related to medical implants and even in every day health issues such as tooth decay and plaque build up. We are developing a new approach to fight these problems. The microbes which make biofilms can also disperse them, allowing the microbes to move to new places. Some microbes deliberately break up the biofilms formed by competitor microbes, in order to steal food or other resources. We are using techniques based on those found in nature to break up biofilms. We have isolated a species of bacteria which can break down a key part of the biofilm matrix. This results in a break down of the whole biofilm and causes the target bacteria to disperse from their biofilm protected state. We can also use the same approach to stop the build up of new biofilm material. Thus we are developing natural and safe methods to control biofilms, in medical, household and industrial settings.

生物膜是由细菌或真菌组成的，它们在一层黏液中大量生长。这些微生物生物膜很容易在家里找到，通常生长在潮湿的表面（如浴室瓷砖、水龙头和水管）。通常情况下，这些生物膜对人体的危害很小，可以很容易地被标准清洁产品去除。然而，在医疗保健和工业中，微生物在生物膜中生长会导致许多严重的问题。在工业环境/工业中，黏液在表面的积聚会导致许多与管道和机械堵塞相关的不同问题。在家里，微生物黏液会导致一些问题，比如浴帘被弄脏，以及在洗碗机和洗衣机的管道和托盘中积聚黏液。在医疗保健环境中可能会出现更严重的问题。生物膜的黏液层包裹着制造它的微生物。这在微生物和环境之间提供了一个保护性屏障。在人体内细菌感染的情况下（如金黄色葡萄球菌伤口感染，常见于康复的住院病人），生物膜很难去除，它们使感染性细菌对抗生素具有高度耐药性。因此，要治愈细菌生物膜感染是极其困难的，这种感染往往会导致患者死亡。事实上，细菌和真菌生物膜在许多疾病中发挥着非常重要的作用，从严重的传染病到囊性纤维化等疾病。生物膜还涉及与医疗植入物相关的感染，甚至涉及蛀牙和牙菌斑积聚等日常健康问题。我们正在研究解决这些问题的新方法。制造生物膜的微生物也可以分散它们，使微生物能够移动到新的地方。有些微生物故意破坏竞争微生物形成的生物膜，以窃取食物或其他资源。我们正在使用基于自然界中发现的技术来分解生物膜。我们已经分离出一种可以分解生物膜基质的关键部分的细菌。这导致整个生物膜的分解，并导致目标细菌从其生物膜保护状态中分散。我们也可以用同样的方法来阻止新的生物膜材料的形成。因此，我们正在开发自然和安全的方法来控制生物膜，在医疗，家庭和工业环境。

项目成果

Crystal structure of NucB, a biofilm-degrading endonuclease.

• DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkx1170
• 发表时间: 2018-01-09
• 期刊: Nucleic acids research
• 影响因子: 14.9
• 作者: Baslé A;Hewitt L;Koh A;Lamb HK;Thompson P;Burgess JG;Hall MJ;Hawkins AR;Murray H;Lewis RJ
• 通讯作者: Lewis RJ