The scream of murdered bacteria allows their companions to survive during an attack of antibiotics

The latest research conducted by scientists on E. coli bacteria indicates that bacteria scream as they die, thus warning neighboring bacteria of danger.

Of course, this does not mean that bacteria make scary noises just before they die, but only emit characteristic chemical signals.

By means of this specific necro-signaling, the bacteria warn the surrounding bacteria of the presence of a lethal danger, and are therefore able to protect most of the colonies that move with them. When faced with a threat, such as antibiotics, signals from dying bacteria can give the remaining bacteria enough time to acquire the mutations that will make them resistant to the antibiotics in question.

Many species of bacteria travel with flagella, which allow them to travel long distances quickly. Sometimes bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) gather into loose, characteristic spatial patterns (swarms) of the billions and use the flagella to travel over solid surfaces.

Bacteria swarms are metabolically active and grow rapidly like a single organism. For this reason, researchers suspected that such specific ‘swarms’ could develop their own antibiotic resistance methods that may be different from the defense mechanisms of individual bacteria.

Some time ago, researchers noticed that when a swarm of bacteria encounters antibiotics, about 25 percent die. the whole colony. It was as if the dying bacteria were protecting the others in some way. After part of the swarm dies, the bacteria that remain actively move away from them.

To determine how the dying cells protect the rest of the swarm, scientists looked at the swarms of E. coli bacteria and how they interacted with antibiotics.

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