Digest: Beating pathogens at their own game

AbsractIn recent years, the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens has prompted searches for new ways to control them. While many studies have focused on discovering new antimicrobials, fewer have looked at the ecological interactions that control pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria are embedded in multi-species microbial communities where they interact with other bacterial species and their own parasitic enemies, bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria; also called phages). Interactions with these other microbes may hinder, benefit, or have no effect on the pathogen. In particular, species that interact antagonistically with the pathogen could be used to control its spread. Competing bacterial species, for example, may reduce the pathogenu0027s growth by impeding access to space and nutrients, or by producing antimicrobial metabolites or other toxins that specifically target and harm the pathogen. Similarly, bacterial pathogens could be infected and killed by phages (Wang et al. 2017).This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved