Colistin Boosts Bacterial Predator Fighting Power
Researchers find that combining colistin with Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus significantly enhances the eradication of drug-resistant pathogens.
Updated on Oct. 23, 2026 in Life Sciences
A new study demonstrates that exposing multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria to colistin improves the effectiveness of the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. This combination treatment successfully reduced pathogen populations and improved survival rates in infected test subjects.
Why it matters
By facilitating predation through antibiotic pretreatment, this method exploits the residual activities of colistin against pathogens. This approach could provide a novel strategy to combat multidrug-resistant infections that are otherwise difficult to treat.
Combination therapy with 8 mg/L colistin produced a 6.75-log reduction in viable prey by 6 hours and depleted mcr-1 gene abundance by 99.96 percent. The treatment increased predator attachment twofold and bdelloplast formation 1.56-fold.
The details
Colistin works by increasing the outer-membrane permeability of target pathogens without causing detectable inner-membrane disruption, making them more vulnerable to the predatory Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100. Transient pretreatment with colistin successfully enhanced the predator's ability to attach to and consume prey species.
Timeline
6 hours: The combination treatment achieved a 6.75-log reduction in viable prey.
24 hours: Pathogen prey counts were reduced below the level of detection.
Day 3: Galleria mellonella subjects reached a 50 percent survival rate.
The Big Picture
This study shifts the paradigm of antibiotic resistance management by integrating predatory bacteria into traditional drug regimens. It extends the investigation into the mcr-1 mediated colistin resistance by demonstrating that biological predation can overcome bacterial defenses previously resistant to chemical treatment.
This research could lead to the development of new combination therapies that combine existing antibiotics with biological predators. These future treatments may offer a way to address multidrug-resistant infections that currently lack effective medical options.
The takeaway
This study highlights the potential of combining chemical treatments with predatory bacteria to defeat resilient pathogens. Future applications may focus on how to safely deploy these biological agents to assist in clinical infection management.
Further reading
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Source note: This article includes information reported by Nature.
