Study provides insight into bacterial resilience and antibiotic targets
Friday, May 27, 2016 - 08:01
in Health & Medicine
Researchers at UC San Francisco and Stanford University have performed the first comprehensive survey of the central genes and proteins essential to bacterial life. The study, which combined a new variant of CRISPR gene-editing technology with automated cell imaging, generated new understanding of the fundamental gene networks that make bacteria so resilient to environmental stress and—increasingly—to antibacterial drugs. The research also demonstrated a practical approach to identifying the mechanism of action of potential new antibiotic compounds, which the researchers hope can be harnessed to aid the design of better drugs to fight a growing epidemic of antibiotic resistance.