Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, October 25 (intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin) The outer membrane of many bacteria is a strong barrier against antibiotics and is an important factor for bacteria to develop resistance to drugs
Academy of Sciences Studies have shown that the protective outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria may have plaques on the surface
This is an important finding because the tough outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria prevents certain drugs and antibiotics from penetrating the cells
In order to better understand this structure, the scientists used a tiny needle with a tip only a few nanometers wide to draw a line on the living E.
The image also shows that the outer membrane has many plaques that do not seem to contain protein
The researchers said that the pictures of the bacterial outer membrane in the textbook show that the protein is distributed on the membrane in a disordered manner, mixing well with the other components of the membrane
The corresponding author of the paper and a professor at University College London Bart Hognom said that this means that it is now possible to start studying whether and how this structure affects the function, integrity and resistance of the outer membrane to antibiotics
The research team also speculates that these findings may help explain how bacteria can grow rapidly while maintaining a tight protective barrier: under the right conditions, E.
This article is an English version of an article which is originally in the Chinese language on echemi.com and is provided for information purposes only.
This website makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness ownership or reliability of
the article or any translations thereof. If you have any concerns or complaints relating to the article, please send an email, providing a detailed
description of the concern or complaint, to
service@echemi.com. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days. Once verified, infringing content
will be removed immediately.
