Toxic behaviour: why do tuberculosis bacteria poison themselves?

Authors: Diamond Light Source
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Science Highlight

State: Published (Approved)
Published: November 2024
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 24948

Abstract: Stealthy bacteria slow down their division when they invade the body to avoid drawing the immune system's attention. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world's leading bacterial infectious killer, takes a seemingly counterintuitive approach to that end. M. tuberculosis expresses self-toxins that damage its DNA and shut down growth as well as antitoxins to later help recuperate and resume proliferation. By studying these toxin-antitoxin pairs, Durham University microbiologist Professor Tim Blower aims to find ways to mimic the self-toxins with new therapeutics.

Diamond Keywords: Tuberculosis (TB); Bacteria; Enzymes

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials, Chemistry, Medicine


Instruments: I04-Macromolecular Crystallography

Added On: 29/11/2024 11:24

Discipline Tags:

Pathogens Antibiotic Resistance Infectious Diseases Health & Wellbeing Biochemistry Chemistry Structural biology Biophysics Drug Discovery Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Macromolecular Crystallography (MX)