BIRMINGHAM / U.K — Researchers have discovered how a group of drug-resistant bacteria defend against medicine.<br /><br />Gram-negative bacteria have an additional outer membrane that makes them strong against antibiotics and responsible for serious drug-resistant infections. <br /><br />This outer membrane is made up of sugars, proteins, and lipids.<br /><br />How the sugars and proteins are made inside the cell and then transported to the outer membrane is understood, but how lipids get there was not.<br /><br />Researchers, led by Dr. Tim Knowles at the University of Birmingham, investigated the crystal structure of a protein called MlaC and found a mechanism that seems to open and close a pocket that lipids bind to. <br /><br />According to New Atlas, this controls inner-cell functions that dictate when lipids are sent to the outer membrane. <br /><br />This discovery, researchers believe, could one day lead to new drug design that can stop the outer membrane from forming and better treat infectious diseases.
