Acinetobacter Baumannii

Why in news?

• Recently, Scientists from the United States and Canada have achieved a remarkable feat in the field of medicine by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to discover a powerful antibiotic called Abaucin capable of fighting Acinetobacter baumannii superbug.
• This breakthrough holds immense promise in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria.

About Acinetobacter Baumannii:

• Acinetobacter baumannii is a dangerous bacterium resistant to antibiotics, as identified by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• It can cause severe infections like pneumonia, meningitis, and wound infections, leading to fatalities.
• Typically found in hospitals, Acinetobacter baumannii can survive on surfaces for long periods, making it difficult to eradicate.
• Due to its remarkable capacity to develop resistance to all currently available antibiotics, it was recognised as a "red alert" human pathogen.

How does antibiotic resistance occur?

• Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria adapt and become resistant to the effects of antibiotics, rendering treatments ineffective.
• Antibiotics are medicines used to prevent and treat bacterial infections.
• Overuse and misuse of antibiotics have fueled the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, posing a global health concern.
• The WHO lists infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and foodborne diseases as becoming harder to treat with existing medication due to increasing anti-bacterial resistance.

What is Abaucin?

• Abaucin is a compound that shows useful activity as a narrow-spectrum antibiotic.
• It is effective against Acinetobacter baumannii.
• Abaucin was discovered with the assistance of AI using a machine-learning model approach.
• Network was trained with a dataset of ~7,500 molecules screened for inhibiting Acinetobacter baumannii growth.
• The network predicted structurally different molecules with activity against A. baumannii, including abaucin.
• Abaucin was experimentally validated and found to have potent antibacterial activity.

How it works?

• Abaucin disrupts the normal function of the CCR2 protein in bacteria.
• This disruption hinders the movement of certain molecules inside the bacteria, preventing them from reaching the outer membrane.
• As a result, the growth of Acinetobacter baumannii is inhibited, reducing its ability to cause infections.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

‘Abaucin’, recently seen in news, is a/an:

(a) Compound which shows useful activity as a narrow-spectrum antibiotic

(b) Chemical used to control insects on food crops

(c) Fungi that produce extracellular PE degrading enzymes

(d) Chemical used in washing coal

Answer