Nanomaterials as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents against antibiotic resistance

A research team at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru has developed nanozymes that destroy the cell membrane of bacteria by directly targeting its phospholipids. The study conducted by the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry and the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology was published in ACS Applied BioMaterials journal.

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Key-Points

Nanozymes are nanomaterials that can disintegrate the cell membranes of a range of diseases causing bacteria.

The nanomaterial was tested in the lab on several potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella Typhi, Shigella flexneri, Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which cause typhoid, gastroenteritis, dysentery, cholera and pneumonia.

The team found out that the nanozyme stopped their growth and subsequently inhibited the formation of biofilm – a densely packed community of bacteria.

Former PhD students Kapudeep Karmakar and Kritika Khulbe who conducted the research say that nanozymes developed by them can replace the antibiotics that have become ineffective as several bacteria have developed resistance to them by producing their own enzymes.