Weakened Walls

Breaching the armour of an attacking enemy is one way to take it down. For Neisseria meningitidis, the bacteria that causes the nervous system infection meningitis, this armour is the cell wall. Researchers investigate a key enzyme, LtgA, involved in building the cell wall to determine whether it could be a good target for weakening the bug. Bacteria were genetically altered to lack LtgA, have reduced levels or have a mutant version missing a region needed for proper function. Scanning electron microscopy revealed bacteria lacking LtgA (pictured, top right) or with reduced levels (bottom left) appeared largely the same as normal (top left). This is likely because other enzymes related to LtgA compensated for its absence or reduced levels. However, N.meningitidis with the mutant enzyme had deformed cell walls and struggled to grow and divide (bottom right). LtgA therefore holds promise as a novel drug target to treat meningitis.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image adapted from work by Allison Hillary Williams and colleagues
• Unité Biologie et Génétique de la Paroi Bactérienne, Institut Pasteur; Groupe Avenir, INSERM 75015, Paris, France
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, February 2020