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100 years later (nearly) and we're still figuring out how Penicillin works

  • 07-12-2014 8:28pm
    #1
    Streets_of Rage 2 Come_On
    Closed Accounts Posts: 48 ✭


    http ://www .sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141205114011.htm

    New study shows how it makes Enzymes in the Bacteria Malfunction, become Toxic and ultimately kill the Bacterias, but also confirms the process the little B******s use to build up resistance.
    Penicillin is powerful, but it's still vulnerable to resistance. When the cell walls of bacteria are disintegrating, they fight back with enzymes called beta-lactamases that slice the beta-lactam molecules and keep them from attaching to their targets.

    Seeing how penicillins work, the scientists have also learned more about how bacteria turn on their beta-lactamases to resist penicillin. An enzyme called Soluble Lytic Transglycosylase (Slt) has been a suspect in recruiting beta lactamases to the struggle. Now it has been directly shown to cause the futile cycle of building and degrading new cell-wall material, creating the alarm signal the bacterium uses to start the production of beta-lactamases.
    Knowing in greater detail just how Slt recruits beta-lactamases may lead to ways to block this form of resistance. Bernhardt has already launched new chemical screens at the medical school's ICCB-Longwood Screening Facility to look for new antibiotic candidates.

    "Now that we know more about beta-lactams being toxic, it gives us a hook to look for new molecules that target the cell wall," he said. "The more we understand how these processes like cell wall synthesis work in bacteria, the better position we'll be in to find new ways to disrupt it."


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