Resistant Ribosomes

Antibiotic resistant bacterial strains are a serious threat to human health, but they tend to grow less vigorously than their wild-type ancestors. If researchers can figure out what compromises their hardiness and then target it, they may be able to eradicate infections. In the case of Bacillus subtilis (which causes infections in immunocompromised individuals), the weakness seems to be a need for magnesium. Antibiotics often target a bacteria’s protein-making machinery (ribosomes) and a common resistance-conferring mutation in B. subtilis has been found to strengthen its ribsosomes through increased magnesium binding. A model of the B. subtilis ribosome is shown, with the more rigid magnesium binding highlighted in blue. However, this increased binding limits the availability of magnesium for other crucial cell functions, including proliferation. Thus, if researchers can mop-up spare magnesium during an infection with antibiotic resistant B. subtilis, perhaps they could stamp out its threat.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image from work by Ashley Eunchae Moon and colleagues, Süel Lab, UC San Diego
• Department of Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Science Advances, November 2024