Cell's breakthrough discovery: a toxin that kills bacteria in unprecedented ways

Researchers at McMaster University have discovered a previously unknown bactericidal toxin that could pave the way

The study showed that the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes a toxin that has evolved to kill other species of bacteria

For Whitney, the key to his discovery wasn't just that this toxin kills bacteria, but how it does

Whitney, an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, said: "This study is significant because it shows that this toxin targets the basic RNA molecules of other bacteria, effectively rendering them dysfunctional

"Like humans, bacteria need properly functioning RNA to survive

The study's lead author, Nathan Bullen, a graduate student in McMaster's Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, said: "This is a full-scale attack on cells because how many of the necessary pathways depend on functional RNA

"This toxin gets into the target, hijacks a basic molecule needed for life, and then uses this molecule to disrupt the normal process

Researchers have been studying the toxin for nearly three years to see exactly how it works at the

The breakthrough, published in Molecular Cell, was finally tested by researchers after rigorous experiments on common targets of toxins, such as proteins and DNA molecules

The discovery breaks the established precedent that other bacteria, such as those that cause cholera and diphtheria, secrete proteins that target toxins

The researchers say this advance offers great potential for future research that could eventually lead to new innovations to fight the bacteria

Whitney said the newly identified weakness could be used in future antibiotic development

essay

An ADP-ribosyltransferase toxin kills bacterial cells by modifying structured non-coding RNAs