Amdavadi scientist at Yale aims to combat AMR bacteria using viruses
Ahmedabad: Taking a cue from ancient wisdom – an enemy's enemy is a friend — an associate research scientist from Yale University, with his roots in the city, is working on improving the virus-bacteria interaction to use viruses known as bacteriophages to kill bacteria.
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Dr Jyot Antani is part of the team that aims to further the science of targeting specific bacteria that have developed antimicrobial resistance (AMR) due to which the infection they cause cannot be treated with conventional antibiotics.
The study, 'Microscopic Phage Adsorption Assay: High-throughput Quantification of Virus Particle Attachment to Host Bacterial Cells,' by Antani, Timothy Ward, Thierry Emonet, and Paul Turner from Yale University, was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.
"Like humans, bacteria can also be infected by viruses. They bind to the receptors on a bacterial host cell and replicate in a process identified as lytic replication, where the host's resources are used to create more phages. This causes the cell to rupture and die," explains Antani.
Globally, these mechanisms are being reviewed as a potential way to address AMR bacterial infections through phage therapy. However, one roadblock is understanding this unique interaction at the microscopic level.
The traditional method involves mixing bacteria and viruses in a flask and testing the mixture sample at regular intervals to measure the attachment of the phage (virus) on bacteria. It is time-consuming, labour-intensive and provides only an estimation, said researchers.
Antani's team from the Yale Quantitative Biology Institute worked on the problem to develop the Microscopic Phage Adsorption (MPA) assay.
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The published work indicates that the method quantifies the interaction between bacteria and phage at individual levels. "Using fluorescent dye, the phages appear as bright spots against the background of bacteria. Using this technique, researchers can record videos of the phages and bacteria in real time, documenting the dynamic movements and individual attachments of phages to bacteria," read the research summary on the Yale University website, Yale Scientific.
Antani said that the breakthrough will help researchers understand the impact of different phage types on bacteria and develop strategies to combat bacteria. "If the sample shows a stable fluorescent dot (phage), it means that it got strongly attached to host bacteria. Phages bind to specific molecules (proteins or sugars) that stick out from the bacterial surface, like a ship docking into its assigned spot in the harbour," he said.
"We tried many different species of each, including some notorious bacteria known for becoming resistant to antibiotics. Our approach successfully worked for most phages and bacteria that we tested."
Antani's journey from Ahmedabad to New Haven has been inspiring. He studied in Gujarati medium until Class 12 before gaining admission to IIT Bombay where he pursued chemical engineering. He received a scholarship for his PhD at Texas A&M University, where he studied the movement of bacteria. "The Covid and post-Covid phases motivated me to explore the interaction between bacteria and viruses, and I got the postdoctoral opportunity at Yale University," he adds.
"There are several interesting projects going on in India in this field, too."
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