Potential new target for antibiotics found.

• Position: E. Coli - Brief article

A protein that is essential to the survival of E. coli bacteria has been identified by researchers at Ohio State University, Columbus, who consider the protein a potential new target for antibiotics. In their study, the scientists confirmed that MurJ flips a tatty molecule from one side of a bacterial cell membrane to the other. If that molecule is not flipped, the cell cannot construct a critical layer that keeps pressurized contents of the cell contained. If those contents are not contained, the cell bursts.

E. coli is part of the family of bacteria characterized by having an extra membrane, called the outer membrane, that reduces the chances for a drug to penetrate the cell to kill it. Inhibiting MurJ, however, would require getting past just one of the two membranes, meaning it could be an attractive new target for antibiotics in this age of resistant pathogens.

"We have proof of principle...