Bacteria can temporarily disguise themselves in order to avoid being detected by antibiotics, scientists say.
The study is the first to show that bacteria can change form in the human body, hiding the cell wall inside themselves. Concealing the cell wall means antibiotics have no target, providing a potential cause of resistance, according to researchers from Newcastle University.
Scientists used state-of-the art techniques to analyse samples from elderly patients with recurring urinary tract infections (UTI).
The research, known as “L-form switching”, shows that when antibiotics are present – such as in a patient with a UTI receiving penicillin or other cell wall-targeting antibiotic – the bacteria has the ability to change form.
Lead author, Dr Katarzyna Mickiewicz, said: “Imagine that the wall is like the bacteria wearing a high-vis jacket.
1/9 Soap bubble structures showing light interference colours and patterning
Bubbles want to optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This unique phenomenon makes them a reliable, useful tool in many areas of research. In particular, materials science and ‘packing’ – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom and interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst! – Kym Cox
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Instead of swimming, this species spends its time pulsing up and down in the water. Their diet is sea plankton and their coloration comes from the uptake of algae in the water. Some jellyfish species have been documented eating plastics in the ocean. One theory suggests that algae grows on the plastic. As it breaks down, the algae creates the odor of dimethyl sulfide that attracts hungry animals. – Mary Anne Chilton
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This small beetle is a pest in stored grain and flour products. Scanning electron micrograph, coloured in Photoshop. – David Spears
David Spears/RPS
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The North America Nebula, NGC7000, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. The Cygnus Wall, a term for the “Mexico and Central America part” of the North America Nebula, exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula. – Dave Watson
Dave Watson/RPS
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Final Major Project for an MA Photography Falmouth University. Project: Mapping 1, Post Exertional Malaise. Mapping 1, focuses on discovering the research behind Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Through exploration of perspective, complexities, and scientific multidisciplinary collaborations, I create imagery that explains, reveals and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown. – Yasmin Crawford
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9/9 Lovell Telescope Series 1c
I have always been fascinated with the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank since I went on a school trip as a child. Here, I wanted to take a series of closer, more detailed and more honest shots than we often see. Exploring the multitude of shapes and exposing the wear of the telescope, each photo in the series stands alone or can be viewed collectively, either way, they present a powerful portrayal of machine that helps humankind in their endeavours to understand space and time. – Marge Bradshaw
Marge Bradshaw/RPS
1/9 Soap bubble structures showing light interference colours and patterning
Bubbles want to optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This unique phenomenon makes them a reliable, useful tool in many areas of research. In particular, materials science and ‘packing’ – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom and interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst! – Kym Cox
Kym Cox/RPS
2/9 Upside down Jelly fish, Cassiopea xamachana
Instead of swimming, this species spends its time pulsing up and down in the water. Their diet is sea plankton and their coloration comes from the uptake of algae in the water. Some jellyfish species have been documented eating plastics in the ocean. One theory suggests that algae grows on the plastic. As it breaks down, the algae creates the odor of dimethyl sulfide that attracts hungry animals. – Mary Anne Chilton
Mary Anne Chilton/RPS
3/9 Tribolium confusum. Confused flour beetle.
This small beetle is a pest in stored grain and flour products. Scanning electron micrograph, coloured in Photoshop. – David Spears
David Spears/RPS
4/9 NGC7000 North American Nebula
The North America Nebula, NGC7000, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. The Cygnus Wall, a term for the “Mexico and Central America part” of the North America Nebula, exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula. – Dave Watson
Dave Watson/RPS
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A safety pin is connected to a high tension AC generator. The pin ionizes the air around it. When the electrons fall back on an atom, the excess energy is emitted as a photon, which generate the corona glow around the pin. The fuzziness of the pin is because the camera did not actually capture light reflected on the pin but rather the light emitted by the ionized light around it. – Richard Germain
Richard Germain/RPS
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Yevhen Samuchenko/RPS
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Stag beetle. Light microscopy. Magnification 5x. – Viktor Sykora
Viktor Sykora/RPS
8/9 Mapping1_OxygenIb_PEM
Final Major Project for an MA Photography Falmouth University. Project: Mapping 1, Post Exertional Malaise. Mapping 1, focuses on discovering the research behind Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Through exploration of perspective, complexities, and scientific multidisciplinary collaborations, I create imagery that explains, reveals and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown. – Yasmin Crawford
Yasmin Crawford/RPS
9/9 Lovell Telescope Series 1c
I have always been fascinated with the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank since I went on a school trip as a child. Here, I wanted to take a series of closer, more detailed and more honest shots than we often see. Exploring the multitude of shapes and exposing the wear of the telescope, each photo in the series stands alone or can be viewed collectively, either way, they present a powerful portrayal of machine that helps humankind in their endeavours to understand space and time. – Marge Bradshaw
Marge Bradshaw/RPS
“This gives them a regular shape – for example a rod or a sphere, making them strong and protecting them but also makes them highly visible – particularly to human immune system and antibiotics like penicillin.
“What we have seen is that in the presence of antibiotics, the bacteria are able to change from a highly regular walled form to a completely random, cell wall-deficient L-form state – in effect, shedding the yellow jacket and hiding it inside themselves.
“In this form the body can’t easily recognise the bacteria so doesn’t attack them, and neither do antibiotics.”
The research, published in Nature Communications, used samples obtained through a collaboration with clinicians at the Newcastle Freeman Hospital, part of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust.
The World Health Organisation has identified antibiotic resistance as one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today.
In a previous study, the Errington lab team demonstrated that the immune system can also to some extent induce L-form switching but that antibiotic treatment has a much more profound effect.
According to the current research, L-forms of various bacterial species typically associated with UTIs, including E. coli, Enterococcus, Enterobacter and Staphylococcus, were detectable in 29 out of 30 patients involved in the study.
In this L-form, the bacteria are flimsy and weaker but some survive, hiding inside the body.
Researchers also captured on video L-form bacteria isolated from a patient with UTI reforming a cell wall after the antibiotic had gone. This took five hours.
The team also showed by a direct microscopy in transparent zebrafish model, that the L-form switching is possible in the context of whole living organisms, and not only in artificial conditions in the lab.
Dr Mickiewicz explained: “In a healthy patient this would probably mean that the L-form bacteria left would be destroyed by their hosts’ immune system.
“But in a weakened or elderly patient, like in our samples, the L-form bacteria can survive.
“They can then reform their cell wall and the patient is yet again faced with another infection.
“And this may well be one of the main reasons why we see people with recurring UTIs.
“For doctors this may mean considering a combination treatment – so an antibiotic that attacks the cell wall then a different type for any hidden L-form bacteria, so one that targets the RNA or DNA inside or even the surrounding membrane.”
Additional reporting by agencies
