Researchers flip riboswitch to kill bacteria
Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 08:50
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers working for pharmaceutical company Merck has found an instance of a molecule that is able to flip a switch in a bacterium that prevents it from synthesizing a needed nutrient, and thus kills it. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes the exhaustive study they undertook to find the molecule and the possibility of it one day being used to treat bacterial infections. Thomas Hermann, of the University of California offers a News & Views piece on the work done by the team in the same journal issue.