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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Nanomechanics of Drug-target Interactions and Antibacterial Resistance Detection

Nanomechanics of Drug-target Interactions and Antibacterial Resistance Detection

Published on: October 25, 2013

Intra-species competition combats vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

Nadav Ben-Assa¹, Rawi Naddaf¹, Shaqed Carasso¹

¹Department of Cell Biology and Cancer Science, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Rappaport Technion Integrated Cancer Center (RTICC), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.

|March 23, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers identified a single, antibiotic-susceptible Enterococcus strain that effectively suppresses vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) colonization. This approach harnesses natural competition to combat multidrug-resistant infections, offering a targeted microbiome therapy.

Keywords:

VRE antibiotic resistance bacteriophage therapy ecological therapeutics enterococcus enterococcus faecalis intra-species competition microbiota therapy phage vancomycin-resistant enterococcus

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Deferred Growth Inhibition Assay to Quantify the Effect of Bacteria-derived Antimicrobials on Competition

Deferred Growth Inhibition Assay to Quantify the Effect of Bacteria-derived Antimicrobials on Competition

Published on: September 3, 2016

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Microbiome Therapeutics
Infectious Diseases

Background:

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections.
Existing treatments lack reproducible microbiota therapies to selectively eliminate VRE.
Developing targeted interventions against VRE is crucial for public health.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify a specific bacterial strain capable of suppressing VRE colonization.
To explore the use of intra-species competition for developing VRE microbiota therapies.
To investigate phage-driven evolution for enhancing VRE antagonism.

Main Methods:

Conducted in vitro screening and mouse colonization models to identify VRE-suppressing strains.
Utilized phage selection on a vancomycin-sensitive Enterococcus strain.
Analyzed genetic mutations and secreted factors responsible for VRE antagonism.

Main Results:

A single antibiotic-susceptible strain, E. faecalis X98, significantly reduced VRE burden in vitro and in vivo.
Multi-strain consortia were less effective due to competitive interference.
Phage-selected E. faecalis OG1RF derivatives exhibited enhanced VRE antagonism via secreted factors.

Conclusions:

Intra-species competition can be harnessed to select effective VRE-suppressing strains.
Phage-driven evolution offers a strategy to enhance microbial therapeutics.
This framework provides a practical approach for developing targeted microbiome interventions against antibiotic-resistant pathogens with minimal collateral damage.