’Brute force’ can overcome antibiotic resistance

Antibiotics can still kill drug-resistant bacteria if they 'push' hard enough into bacterial cells, finds new UCL-led research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The study opens up a promising new way of overcoming antibiotic resistance and could help scientists to design even more effective drugs. "Antibiotics work in different ways, but they all need to bind to bacterial cells in order to kill them," explains lead author Dr Joseph Ndieyira (UCL Medicine). "Antibiotics have 'keys' that fit 'locks' on bacterial cell surfaces, allowing them to latch on. When a bacterium becomes resistant to a drug, it effectively changes the locks so the key won't fit any more. Incredibly, we found that certain antibiotics can still 'force' the lock, allowing them to bind to and kill resistant bacteria because they are able to push hard enough. In fact, some of them were so strong they tore the door off its hinges, killing the bacteria instantly!" The researchers used sensitive equipment to measure the mechanical forces that four different antibiotics exerted on bacterial cells.