Hospital Pharmacist
2008;15:118
April 2008

News summary

Research finds new bacterial drug target

Penicillin’s efficacy for treating resistant infections has received a boost from new research led by a UK scientist (Journal of Biological Chemistry 2008;283:6402–17). The researchers have replicated the activity of a protein responsible for the resistance exhibited by Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The protein, called MurM, acts by forming disulphide bridges between strands of peptidoglycan in the bacterial cell wall. A high level of disulphide bridges in the cell wall of S pneumoniae is a prerequisite for penicillin resistance.

This development will offer pharmaceutical researchers the option to use MurM as the pharmacological target for future research. The research could also have similar implications for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. MRSA also uses peptide bridges to construct the peptidoglycan component of its cell wall.