Novel Approaches for Inhibiting Bacterial Biofilm Formation

抑制细菌生物膜形成的新方法

• 批准号: 418685-2012
• 负责人: Lewenza, Shawn
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=505853
• 关键词: Novel; Approaches; Inhibiting; Bacterial; Biofilm

Bacteria grow in dense communities on surfaces in the environment and in the body. The bacteria are encased in an extracellular slime layer (or matrix) that provides protection and supports long-term survival. Unfortunately, some bacterial biofilms cause corrosion and damage to oil pipelines and surfaces submerged in water. Biofilms are also a major cause of bacterial infections, due to their increased ability to resist antibiotic treatment and the immune system. New strategies are needed to prevent or reduce biofilm formation, in order to reduce industrial damage and treat biofilm infections. One approach to reduce biofilms is to target the destruction of the polymers that make up the extracellular matrix. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is used as our model organism, because it is ubiquitous in the environment, and forms robust biofilms. We have identified the genes that are specifically turned on in biofilms, which contribute to building a biofilm, to resisting antibiotic treatment and to evading the immune response. It is proposed here to screen for novel antibiotics that reduce the ability to produce these factors that are essential to build a biofilm. We also propose to study the viruses that kill bacteria, with the intention to engineer viruses that are better equipped to kill biofilms. Due to the increasing problem of widespread antibiotic resistance, novel approaches are need to combat these industrial and medical problems caused by biofilms.

细菌在环境表面和体内密集地生长。细菌被包裹在细胞外黏液层（或基质）中，提供保护并支持长期生存。不幸的是，一些细菌生物膜会对石油管道和淹没在水中的表面造成腐蚀和破坏。生物膜也是细菌感染的主要原因，因为它们抵抗抗生素治疗和免疫系统的能力增强。为了减少工业破坏和治疗生物膜感染，需要新的策略来预防或减少生物膜的形成。减少生物膜的一种方法是以破坏构成细胞外基质的聚合物为目标。铜绿假单胞菌被用作我们的模式生物，因为它在环境中无处不在，并形成坚固的生物膜。我们已经确定了在生物膜中特异性开启的基因，这些基因有助于构建生物膜，抵抗抗生素治疗和逃避免疫反应。在此建议筛选新型抗生素，以降低产生这些因子的能力，这些因子是构建生物膜所必需的。我们还建议研究杀死细菌的病毒，目的是设计出能够更好地杀死生物膜的病毒。由于广泛的抗生素耐药性问题日益严重，需要新的方法来对抗这些由生物膜引起的工业和医学问题。