New membrane-synthesis pathways in bacteria discovered
Friday, June 13, 2014 - 08:11
in Biology & Nature
Biologists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have discovered new mechanisms used by bacteria to manufacture lipids, i.e. fat molecules, for the cell membrane. Those mechanisms are a combination of familiar bacterial synthesis pathways and of such that occur in higher organisms. Thus, the team headed by Prof Dr Franz Narberhaus and Dr Roman Moser has debunked the long-standing theory that lipid production in bacteria differs substantially from that in higher organisms. The results have been published in the journal "Molecular Microbiology".