Micro(be)philosophy!!

Here is an article describing the in vitro activity of Chinese Ginseng on P. aeruginosa biofilm from University Hospital of Copenhegan together with fellows from the Technical University of Denmark and University of Copenhegan, Denmark. These people are in fact well known for their contributions in P.aeruginosa biofilm research Effects of ginseng on Pseudomonas aeruginosa motility and biofilm formation. FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology (DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-695X.2011.00787.x) Ginseng ( Panax Sp. ) is a slow growing perennial plant mostly grown in the northern hemisphere. It is known for its wide range of therapeutic use both in traditional and modern medicine. The same group has already published their results on the efficiency of the aqueous extract of Ginseng in preventing animal models from biofilm infection. Now in this paper, they have extended their research in finding out what the Ginseng is doing to the biofilm. They have reported that the extract is neith...

Synergistic Effect of 14-Alpha-Lipoyl Andrographolide and Various Antibiotics on the Formation of Biofilms and Production of Exopolysaccharide and Pyocyanin by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (doi:10.1128/AAC.00575-10) Yet another related study on P. aerugenosa was presented by researchers from Jinan University College of Pharmacy and Chinese Academy of Sciences from china and University of Adelaide, Australia. The authors have synthesized a small molecule, 14-alpha-lipoyl andrographolide (AL-1) which is a derivative of a natural product andrographolide, a diterpenoid lactore from the herb Andrographis paniculata . The later is a traditional medicine used to treat symptoms of inflammation, fever and pain due to infections since 30 years in china. The authors write about the QS system, the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) system and the Type III secretion (T3SS) system which play role in biofilm formation and pathogenesis and quote that compounds that inhibit the above systems may of...

The content of the June issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy is now available. Its the 6th issue of volume 55. There are quite some research articles published in relation to antimicrobials against biofilms. Antimicrobial Peptoids Are Effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms (doi:10.1128/AAC.01516-10) Bacteria in biofilms are known to be more resistant towards antimicrobials than their planktonic (free living) counterparts. A group of scientists from Stanford University, California and Northwestern University, Evanston have investigated the effects of peptoids, Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and conventional antibiotics against the formation and removal of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. AMPs are short aminoacid sequences are known for their nonspecific mechanism of bactericidal activity.

When they had to talk, they say 'me', then recognize 'you' and then also learn 'we'; yes, these are the words the bacteria speak among themselves. It was my turn to present an article in the journal club here in our department this week. This time, I choose to talk about 'quorum sensing'; the name in "our" language to address their (bacterial) language. Isn't an intresting topic to talk about? after-all, all we are fond of gossips and in this case the ‘bacterial gossips’! It was an 2009 article in ‘PloS biology’ journal from Bonnie L. Bassler's group who at the first place reported the quorum sensing in the bacteria, vibrio fischeri. It was an amazing experience to learn and share about this incredible system of these tiny little single celled bugs. This particular article is about vibrio harveyi and would like to write here a few things I learnt over reading the article (over a late working night infact :(! ). Quorum sensing, in short ...