Cystic Fibrosis: Sugar On Bacteria Surface Serves As Base For Web Of Resistance
Friday, April 24, 2009 - 19:35
in Health & Medicine
The bacteria responsible for chronic infections in cystic fibrosis patients use one of the sugars on the germs' surface to start building a structure that helps the microbes resist efforts to kill them, new research shows. Scientists have determined that the bacterial cell-surface sugar, a polysaccharide called Psl, is anchored on the surface of the bacterium as a helix, providing a structure that encourages cell-to-cell interaction.