Secrets of natural antibiotic explained

University researchers have discovered how proteins produced by our skin rapidly destroy harmful bacteria.

Understanding how these natural defences work will help scientists design alternatives to conventional antibiotics.

Naturally effective

Until now researchers were unable to explain in detail how proteins produced by both plants and animals have been killing harmful germs effectively for millions of years.

Unravelling how these proteins work may help to fight infections that are becoming resistant to conventional antibiotics and therefore increasingly difficult to treat, such as MRSA.

Secrets unravelled

University scientists and international collaborators studied infection-fighting proteins produced on human skin and by sweat glands.

They used specialist X-ray imaging technology to show that these proteins are shaped like a pipe.

The molecule is able to push fluids through this pipe to rupture the cell wall of the bug, destroying it in milliseconds.

Antibiotics could be designed to mimic the behaviour of these natural proteins, helping to develop better drug treatment for infections.

International study

This research project was part of a large international collaboration. This included the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and Universities in Göttingen, Tübingen, and Freiburg, alongside scientists in Strasbourg and Spain.

(Source: The University of Edinburgh)