Assalam O Alaikum

My name is Muhammad Zain Latif.

Today’s my topic of presentation is about how free-living
amoebae can predate on diverse antibiotic-resistant human
pathogens.
As amoebae are universal eukaryotic micro-organisms and are
predators of bacteria. Environmental amoebae have also been
proposed to serve as both potential pool and training grounds
for human pathogens.
Free living amoebae play an important role in hosting and
spreading various human pathogens. The resistance of human
pathogens to predation by amoebae is often derived by in vitro
experiments using model amoebae.
However, the studies of relationship between environmental
amoebae and human pathogens often depend on a few
domesticated amoebae that have been selected to feed on rich
medium, as a result they are possibly overestimating the
resistance of pathogens to these predatory phagocytes.
Pathogens can limit predation by phagocytes by production of
an extracellular capsule.
From an open-air composting site, we recovered over 100
diverse amoebae that were able to feed on Acinetobacter
Baumannii and Klebsilla pneumonia.
In a uniform and quantitative trial for predation, the isolated
amoebae showed an extensive predation spectrum, killing the
clinical isolates of A.baumannii, K.pneumoniae, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and staphylococcus aureus.
Free-living amoebae capable of predating on human pathogens
can be easily recovered from natural environments.
Interestingly, A.baumannii and K.pneumoniae were reported
to resist predation by lab strains of Acanthamoebae , that were
effectively consumed by closely related environmental
amoebae or natural isolates of the same species.
The isolated amoebae were capable of feeding on highly
virulent carbapenem-resistant or methicillin-resistant clinical
isolates.
In conclusion, the natural environment is a rich source of
amoebae with broad-spectrum bactericidal activities, including
against antibiotic-resistant isolates.