Three new regulators have been identified by researchers at the Binghamton University that are necessary for the formation and development of biofilms. This groundbreaking discovery is likely to produce new methods of treating chronic infections.

The foundation of this new method is in biofilms that are communities of bacteria in self-produced slime and can be found anywhere where solids meet liquids. It has been found that biofilms are implicated in a majority of all chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases that are produced by bacteria. Many such infections include gastrointestinal ulcers, ear infections, urinary tract infections and others. The problem with biofilms is that they are nearly impossible to eradicate with conventional antimicrobial treatments since they can are much more resistant to antibiotics.

Karin Sauer, associate professor of biology at Binghamton University, and graduate student Olga Petrova announced, “We have found a pathway of how the formation of biofilms is controlled,” Sauer said. “If we can figure out how to make use of this newly discovered genetic program, we can interfere with the formation of biofilms and either prevent or treat biofilm infections more successfully.”

Petrova documented a previously unknown genetic program made up of various regulators by searching for alterations in phosphorylation trends in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These regulators cannot only be utilized to prevent the development of biofilms at different stages in their growth but also to revert established biofilms to an earlier developmental stage.

“The problem you have when you have a chronic infection is that your immune system is trying to clear the infection but is unable to,” Sauer said. “And the longer the chronic infection goes on, the more damage there will be to tissue at the site of the infection. That’s because the immune response often involves the release of toxic compounds that have no effect on biofilms but can damage the surrounding tissues.”

Sauer’s research is being supported by the National Institutes of Health, which has awarded her more than $3 million, and the Army Research Office. Her two major NIH-funded projects look at different aspects of biofilms. One focuses on antibiotic resistance and the mechanism behind it; the other centers on dispersion, the process by which a biofilm breaks down into individual bacterial cells.