Nervous System Fights Drug-resistant Microbes

close up view of american cockroach with a black background

Biological Strategy

American cockroach

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Image: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab / Wikimedia Commons /

Protect From Microbes

In living systems, microbes play important roles, such as breaking down organic matter and maintaining personal and system health. But they also pose threats. Bacteria can be pathogens that cause diseases. Some bacteria create colonies called biofilms that can coat surfaces, reducing their effectiveness–for example, inhibiting a leaf’s ability to photosynthesize. Living systems must have strategies for protecting from microbes that cause disease or become so numerous that they create an imbalance in the system. At the same time, living systems must continue living in harmony with other microbes. Some living systems kill microbes. Others repel without killing to reduce the chances that microbes will adapt to the lethal strategy and become resistant to it. For example, some pea seedlings exude a chemical that inhibits biofilm buildup.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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Nervous system tissues of cockroaches protect them from drug-resistant microbes via unique antimicrobial chemicals.

“A study of locust and cockroach brains has found a number of chemicals which can kill bugs like MRSA.

“Scientists hope these could become a powerful new weapon to
boost the dwindling arsenal of antibiotics used to treat severe
bacterial infections…

“The researchers discovered nine different chemicals in the brains of
locusts and cockroaches, which all had anti microbrial properties strong
enough to kill 90% of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) while not harming human cells.” (Rutherford 2010)

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