惊爆！耐抗生素细菌的弱点被发现了

　　出版日期：2014年6月23日

　　自然期刊的新研究揭示了包裹着耐药性细菌细胞的防御屏障的唯一致命弱点。

　　The findings pave the way for a new wave of drugs that kill superbugs by bringing down their defensive walls rather than attacking the bacteria itself. It means that in future, bacteria may not develop drug-resistance at all.

　　这项研究为新一波的药物铺平道路，通过瓦解它们的防御墙而不是攻击细菌本身杀死超级细菌。这意味着，在未来，细菌根本不会出现耐药性。

　　Outer membrane

　　外膜

　　Researchers investigated a class of bacteria called 'Gram-negative bacteria' which is particularly resistant to antibiotics because of its cells' impermeable lipid-based outer membrane. This outer membrane acts as a defensive barrier against attacks from the human immune system and antibiotic drugs. It allows the pathogenic bacteria to survive, but removing this barrier causes the bacteria to become more vulnerable and die. Until now little has been known about exactly how the defensive barrier is built. The new findings reveal how bacterial cells transport the barrier building blocks (called lipopolysaccharides) to the outer surface.

　　研究人员研究一种称为“革兰氏阴性菌”的细菌，这种细菌尤其能对抗生素产生抗性，因为它有脂质的不透水的细胞外膜。这种外膜作为对抗来自于人类免疫系统和和抗生素药物攻击的防御屏障。它可以让致病细菌生存，但是，消除这一障碍会导致细菌变得更加脆弱和死亡。到现在为止，对于防御屏障如何建成的确切信息仍然甚少。这些新的发现揭示了细菌细胞如何将屏障构建块(称为脂多糖)运输到细胞外表面。

　　Current antibiotics are useless

　　当前的抗生素是无效的

　　Group leader Prof Changjiang Dong, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "We have identified the path and gate used by the bacteria to transport the barrier building blocks to the outer surface. Importantly, we have demonstrated that the bacteria would die if the gate is locked. This is really important because drug-resistant bacteria is a global health problem. Many current antibiotics are becoming useless, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year".

　　研究组组长、东英吉利大学的诺维奇医学院董长江教授说：“我们已经确定了细菌细胞将屏障构建块运输到细胞外表面所使用的通路和闸门。重要的是，我们已经证明，如果闸门被锁住，这个细菌一定会死。” “这是非常重要的，因为耐药性细菌是一个全球性的健康问题。目前许多抗生素都变得一无是处，每年造成数百万人死亡。”

　　Antibiotic use in animals

　　动物使用的抗生素

　　Antibiotic use in livestock is often named as the main reason for antibiotic resistance bacteria and hence the problems caused for human health. Antibiotics in general must be used judiciously in animals and humans because both uses contribute to the emergence, persistence, and spread of resistant bacteria. Livestock may serve as a reservoir of resistant pathogens and resistance mechanisms that can directly or indirectly result in antibiotic resistant infections in humans, but also the use of antibiotics in humans are causing the worldwide increase of resistant bacteria.

　　家畜中使用的抗生素被认为是抗生素耐药菌产生的主要原因，它可引发人类的健康问题。一般来说抗生素必须明智地使用到动物和人身上，因为这两个应用都会引发耐药性细菌的发育、持留和蔓延。家畜可能是耐药性病原体和耐药性机制的“蓄积地”，它可直接或间接地引发人体的耐抗生素疾病，但是人类使用抗生素也会提高全球耐药性细菌的增长。

　　This research was funded by Wellcome Trust. Research collaborators included the University of St Andrews, Dr of Diamond Light Source (UK), Dr from the University of Oxford, and Prof Wenjan Wang of Sun Yat-sen University (China).

　　本研究由惠康基金会赞助。研究的合作者包括圣安德鲁大学的，英国“钻石光源”(Diamond Light Source)的Neil Paterson博士，牛津大学的Phillip Stansfield博士，以及中山大学（中国）的王文建教授。

　　来源: Sciencedaily.com

　　译者：畜牧人编辑IRIS