Based on an improved understanding of bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—scientists reporting in the Sept. 23 issue of the journal Nature believe they have discovered a potential new way to control drug-resistant bacteria, an increasingly worrisome public health problem. The new research, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that bacteriophages contain genes that allow them to quickly change their proteins to bind to different cell receptors. The researchers, who encountered this genetic property while working on an unrelated project, believe that this discovery could lead to the use of genetically engineered phages to treat bacterial infections that have become resistant to antibiotics.
