Find new weapons against antibiotic resistant viruses

Tea blends in between pathogenic bacteria, artificial cells can destroy their headquarters.

Recently, scientists have succeeded in creating an artificial cell that can chemically communicate with living cells. As a result, they can be placed between natural cells without being detected.

The cells naturally behave with artificial cells as if they were one of them. Scientists hope that in this way, they can send "spies" , infiltrate between the pathogenic bacteria population, then destroy their organization.

If successful, this will be a new solution in the future, helping people fight dangerous viruses. In current practice, antibiotic resistance has been considered an issue on par with HIV / AIDS. The drug-resistant virus, expected, will kill 10 million people every year in the next few decades.

A new weapon against viruses: Artificial cells act as "spies" in the infection.

To create artificial "spy" cells , scientists had to cleverly build a tiny cell-like structure, which also packed DNA. Experiencing many experiments, these artificial cells can interact with natural bacteria.

Artificial cells glow when "hearing the call" of bacteria. Meanwhile, bacteria respond to them with chemical signals.

"[We] can make artificial cells that can chemically communicate with bacteria," said Dr. Sheref S. Mansy, from the University of Trento, Italy. In the past, there was a clear division between living and non-living realities, between mankind and nature, but so far, people are gradually erasing that boundary.

The artificial cells created by Dr. Mansy and his colleagues can sense molecules, naturally released from bacteria. Then, they "think" , synthesize and create a chemical reaction to respond.

They produce proteins that respond to stimulation from the environment, and thus engage in a two-way communication with bacteria. Scientists say artificial cells have surpassed the "Turing test" of bacteria.

The usual Turing test is a test for "intellectual" machines . There, there are 3 hidden participants including one machine, one person and one supervisor. The supervisor must communicate with the other two parties, to distinguish what is the machine. The machine passed the test when the supervisor failed in this distinguished result.

In the case of artificial cells, they have also made successful natural communication with bacteria. Thus, artificial cells can live among bacteria that cannot be detected.

Artificial cells can destroy the biofilm of bacteria.

The ability to mix and hide themselves gives researchers a hope. That in the future, they can train artificial cells into "spies" against pathogens. Two potential candidates for this method are salmonella causing food poisoning, and the Neisseria meningitidis strain causes meningitis .

Dr Mansy said: "We found that artificial cells can interfere with the signal of pathogenic bacteria. If they continue to grow, they can be used to destroy the biofilm of microbes. bacteria and cure infections ".

In fact, biofilms are likened to a microbial headquarters, where they aggregate and secrete a lot of chemicals to build the city. These nutrient-rich mucous membranes are responsible for more than 80% of microbial infections in the body.

If scientists can send their "spies" into and destroy this organism of pathogenic bacteria, we can treat infections very effectively. Artificial cells could become a new solution, for the current status of antibiotics is losing its effectiveness.