Research: new breakthrough in battling resistance to antibiotics

Biofilms help protect bacteria from the effects of antibiotics. Bacteria using biofilms in this way use shared EPS, and the team set out from the premise that if they were to inhibit this shared trait, according to social evolutionary theory they could select against resistance.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, they demonstrate how inhibiting the EPS of the bacteria Salmonella can reduce both the attachment of the biofilm to the cell, and the cell’s tolerance and resistance to antibiotics.