The model also enabled the scientists to observe the location of strains in the gut and how their position changes after various substances are produced by the intestinal wall or bacteria. The visualization of the model showed that the spatial structure is a key factor that helps bacteria to survive and adapt to the changing conditions of their environment.

Using the model, the researchers were able to prove that even after antibiotic therapy there may be more bacteria that are sensitive to the effects of the antibiotic drug than those that are resistant to it. This conclusion may seem contradictory, but it is in fact true: the resistance to antibiotics comes at a price to the microorganisms. Antibiotics work by disrupting the biochemical mechanisms that are of vital importance to the function of the microbes (e.g. blocking protein synthesis or respiratory enzymes), which means they can only survive with major changes to the structure of key proteins, or by producing molecules that neutralize the drug. By altering their biochemical properties or using up resources on additional chemical reactions, bacteria inevitably lose out on efficiency: they consume "food" slower, divide slower and therefore it is certainly not the case that these microbes will be able to drive out ordinary microorganisms. The fact that we now have increasing numbers of antibiotic-resistant strains is important both from a scientific, as well as a medical point of view.


Observing the position of bacteria in the gut on the model also enabled the researchers to explain the possible advantage of resistant strains, which could lose out to less resistant, but faster rivals. The researchers say that regions dominated by one particular type of bacteria play a key role here - in these regions the "slow but resistant" strains simply suppress the competition. Feedback mechanisms and the production and absorption of substances in the gut wall also have an effect on the ratio of resistant and sensitive bacteria. The more feedback mechanisms involved, the slower the reduction in the number of sensitive bacteria, while resistant strains die faster. The researchers believe that further studies in this area will be useful to understand the fundamental causes of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and to develop drugs targeted at pathogens.

Biophysics and the system approach

The intestinal microbiome is not traditionally an area studied at MIPT: since its founding, MIPT has been known as a centre for training physicists with a focus on applied and engineering subjects such as microelectronics, the aerospace industry, and information technology. However, in recent years the institute has begun to look more closely at the field of life science - and not only in the faculties of biological and medical physics, but also in the "purely physical" Department of General and Applied Physics which now has its very own biophysics section. A new biopharmaceutical department has been built on campus, new laboratories have been opened to study the structure of proteins, and specialized conferences have also been held at the department.

European Press Room Homepage