MEDICAL NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

For more information World Health Organization Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. Available at http://www.who.int/hpr/gs.process.document.shtml. World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Report on Diet, Nutrition, and Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac911e/ac911e00.htm. Letter from US Department of Health and Human Services to World Health Organization questioning the scientific veracity of the global obesity strategy, hosted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Available at http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/steigerltr.pdf.

that the organization is poised to vigorously back the effort. During the 18-month process leading to the strategy, behind-the-scenes lobbying was intense. Most recently, the US delegation to a WHO executive board meeting delayed adoption of the draft strategy for a month. The extra time gives the United States and several small, sugar-producing countries (the so-called G77) an opening to lobby for a softer strategy. This tactic sparked negative publicity after a letter from the DHHS to WHO found its way into the press. In the letter, William Steiger, PhD, special assistant to DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson for international affairs, attacks the scientific credibility of

a WHO nutrition report. Evidence is lacking, according to the letter, that fast food marketing is a factor in childhood obesity; that soft drinks and fruit juice contribute to childhood health problems; and that increased fruit and vegetable consumption decreases the risk of obesity. The letter also places responsibility for a healthy diet squarely, and solely, at the feetor stomachof individuals. Negative reaction to the letter was swift and severe. In a New York Times editorial, Kelly Brownell, PhD, chair of the department of psychology at Yale University, and Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, professor of public health at New York University, excoriated the Bush administration for their blatant pan-

dering to American food companies that produce high-fat, high-sugar foods. The food industrys objections are astonishing because of the pure banality of the [WHO] report, said Nestle in a phone interview. It says what every group looking at the issue has been saying for years, namely, that eating more fruits and vegetables and limiting intake of fats and sugars help prevent obesity. So theres nothing new here. Whats so upsetting to [the food industry] is that the WHO is actually trying to do something about it, she said. Kaare Norum, MD, PhD, chair of the WHO group that assembled the antiobesity strategy and past president of the University of Oslo, Norway, responded with a letter to Thompson that expressed grave concern. While Steigers letter focussed on a single documenta scientific review released by WHO and FAO in April 2003Norum points out that many previous expert reports from UN and US agencies have drawn similar conclusions regarding the role of high-fat, highsugar foods in the obesity epidemic. A revised draft of the WHOs antiobesity strategy will be presented to the 57th World Health Assembly in May. If adopted, the strategy would be nonbinding.

Researchers Eye Predatory Bacterium for Novel Antimicrobial Strategies

Tracy Hampton, PhD
CIENTISTS HAVE UNVEILED DE tails of how a unique microbe seeks and destroys a variety of plant and animal pathogens, findings that offer clues for new weapons against bacterial infections. By sequencing the entire genome of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and analyzing its life cycle, researchers in Germany are now able to describe the molecular mechanisms used by these
1188

predatory bacteria, including those involving many novel antimicrobial enzymes (Science. 2004;303:689-692). The authors suggest their findings could be used to design new antibiotics. We are trying to identify those enzymes that have lytic or antimicrobial capabilities. We believe this is in the range of about 250. And they could be used either by themselves or as a cocktail to contain certain bacterial infections, said principal investigator Stephan Schuster, PhD, of the Max-

Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, in Tubingen. The wide variety of B bacteriovorus lytic enzymes that Schuster and colleagues identified can degrade complex molecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, DNA, and RNA. The bacteria might also be used intact, as a type of living antibiotic.
MODE OF ATTACK

Bdellovibrios name comes from the Latin bdella, meaning leechlike,

JAMA, March 10, 2004Vol 291, No. 10 (Reprinted)

2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

Downloaded From: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/ on 06/01/2012

MEDICAL NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

and vibrio, meaning curved bacteria. The bacteria can be found in fresh and marine waters, as well as in soil and sewage. Schuster and colleagues outlined the steps that B bacteriovorus takes when attacking other Gram-negative bacteriaincluding those that can cause human illness, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Pseudomonas. Once attached to its prey, the predator bores a hole in the cell wall, invades the cell, and degrades its internal components. Researchers are interested in understanding the details of B bacteriovorus mode of attack to find components of the prey bacteria that are not targeted by conventional antibiotics. This information could help in the design of new antimicrobial agents to fight bacterial infections. As B bacteriovorus chews up the cellular components of its prey, it plunders the organisms amino acids for its own livelihood. One of the most striking findings we made is that Bdellovibrio is not capable of synthesizing all of its amino acids. And this means it can only reproduce and grow while it is in the host, said Schuster. After it feasts on its bacterial prey, B bacteriovorus reproduces and bursts free, in search of a new quarry. Schuster said that although there are two other bacterial predators in nature, they infect only environmental strains, such as photosynthetic bacteria in plants. B bacteriovorus is unique, said Schuster, because it not only preys on a lot of enterobacteria, the Gram-negative bacteria sometimes found in the intestines of mammals, but also on plant pathogens and pathogens other than enterobacteria that occur in animals and humans. This means that the tools the predatory bacterium uses to tackle such a wide-ranging menu may have broad applications in medicine and food safety. For example, B bacteriovorus, may provide tools to fight Salmonella contamination in meat or fish.

Life Cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

Prey Location
Snjeana Rendulic , Jurgen Berger, Stephan C. Schuster, PhD/Max-Planck-Institute

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

Lysis and Release

Prey (Gram-Negative Bacterium)

Attachment

Establishment and Development

Invasion

Color-enhanced scanning electron micrographs show the life cycle of the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus (yellow). It moves towards, attaches to, and invades its prey (blue). Then, after pillaging its preys cellular components for its own growth and reproduction, it lyses the host cell and begins the cycle anew.

HARMLESS TO HUMANS?

Because B bacteriovorus is believed to be harmless to humansit cannot invade mammalian cellsscientists suggest that the bacterium itself may be able to serve as a therapeutic agent, as a living antibiotic. In addition, laboratory experiments have turned up no evidence of gene transfer between B bacteriovorus and its prey, so that it is considered unlikely that the organism would acquire genes that would make it pathogenic to humans or other mammals. A foreseeable application [of B bacteriovorus] is as a living antibiotic in patientsfor example, in those cases where existing antibiotics no longer work, said Schuster. Such a living antibiotic could have a strategic advantage over conventional antimicrobial drugs. The researchers speculate that while genetic mutations enable bacterial pathogens to become resistant to

antibiotics, a living antibiotic could theoretically similarly evolve through mutation to be able to keep the prey bacteria in check. Laboratory studies show that the cell surface of B bacteriovorus is only weakly immunogenic, in contrast to those of many other bacterial strains that provoke serious immune reactions ( J Biol Chem. 2003;278:2750227512). Nontheless, its clear that introduction of foreign elements such as these into the body would have to be considered with all due concern about possible consequences. However, scientists are hopeful that B bacteriovorus may prove safe and effective in a number of clinical applications. This is what we hope, said Schuster. And since this paper came out, there are many people writing to me, and they come up with new applications that we havent even thought about.

2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

(Reprinted) JAMA, March 10, 2004Vol 291, No. 10 1189

Downloaded From: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/ on 06/01/2012