Suicide system in tuberculosis bacteria might hold key to treatment

(European Molecular Biology Laboratory) Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide. The genome of the bacterium that causes TB holds a special toxin-antitoxin system with spectacular action: once the toxin is activated, all bacterial cells die, stopping the disease. An international research team co-led by the Wilmanns group at EMBL in Hamburg investigated this promising feature for therapeutic targets. They now share the first high-resolution details of the system in Molecular Cell.
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news