U.S. researchers have developed new tools that can help scientists visualize how bacteria talk to one another. By using natural product MALDI-TOF (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption
Ionization-Time of Flight) imaging mass spectrometry, researchers at the University of California in San Diego developed the tools to visualize how different cell populations of cells communicate.
Understanding how bacteria talk to one another may lead to new therapeutic discoveries for diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes and
allergies, the researchers said in their study published in the November 8 issue of Nature Chemical Biology.
The researchers used the approach to observe the effects of multiple microbial signals in an interspecies interaction, revealing that chemical
"conversations" between bacteria involve many signals that function simultaneously.
Microbial interactions, such as signaling, have generally been considered by scientists in terms of an individual, predominant chemical
activity. However, a single bacterial species is capable of producing many bioactive compounds that can alter neighboring organisms.
The researchers anticipate that this tool will enable development of a bacterial dictionary that translates the output signals.
"Scientists tend to study the metabolic exchange of bacteria, for example penicillin, one molecule at a time," said Pieter C. Dorrestein, PhD, assistant professor at the university's Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
"Actually, such exchanges by microbes are much more complex, involving 10, 20 or even 50 molecules at one time. Now scientists can capture that complexity."
"Our ability to translate the metabolic output of microbes is becoming more important, as they outnumber other cells in our body by a 10 to one margin," Dorrestein explain.
"We want to begin to understand how those bacteria interact with our cells. This is a powerful tool that may ultimately aid in understanding these interactions."
The researchers are currently mapping hundreds of such bacterial interactions in order to translate these bacterial-mediated mechanisms in the future.
Understanding the means by which microorganism cells talk to one another will facilitate therapeutic discovery, according to Dorrestein.