Cracking bacteria's secrets may lead to new treatments

Description

(Phys.org) —Scientists have found another chink in bacteria's armour, mapping for the first time the structure of a protein that plays an important role helping infection gain a foothold in the body.

 

Published today in Nature a group of international scientists from Monash University, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Georgia Institutes of Technology and the Diamond Light Source have determined the structure, in two species of bacteria, of an essential membrane protein called BamA.