Researchers Discover New Methods To Identify Bacteria More Easily
Antibiotics are used far too regularly around the world. Bacteria are becoming more resistant as a result. Curing bacterial illnesses is getting increasingly difficult because antibiotics are one of our most powerful weapons in the fight against them.
The good news is that finding better ways for identifying infections is a crucial step towards requiring fewer antibiotics.
"We have developed a simple tool that can identify all of the genetic material in bacteria. This allows us to find out more quickly what kind of bacteria a sick person or animal is affected by, or what kind of bacteria are found in food or the environment. We can then also decide whether it is necessary to use antibiotics against the bacterium, and if so what kind, so we don't have to use as much medication," says Professor Erika Eiser at Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Physics.
An international research group is behind the latest findings. The results have been presented in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal. Playing a key role in the work was Dr Peicheng Xu from the Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, for whom Eiser was previously an academic supervisor.
One reason why the new method is faster is that users do not have to go through a step called 'gene amplification'. This involves making several copies of the genetic material so it is easier to analyse, but this step can now be skipped "We can analyse all of the bacterium's DNA without gene amplification by using a method previously used in simulations," says Professor Eiser.
Eiser was part of a research group led by Tine Curk from Johns Hopkins University that developed the theory behind the method, which also works in reality. (ANI)
