Breakthrough in the working principle of penicillin

An international research team led by the University of Sheffield found that β-lactam antibiotics kill MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) by making holes in the cell wall, which grow as the cells grow.

The growth of these holes can lead to the rupture of cell walls and the death of bacteria.

Previously, it was known that β-lactam antibiotics work by preventing the growth of cell walls, but how they kill cells has remained a mystery until now

Professor Simon Foster from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sheffield said: “For more than 80 years, penicillin and other similar antibiotics have been the core of human health care, saving more than 200 million lives

"Our research focused on the superbug MRSA and found that antibiotics cause the formation of small pores across the cell wall.

"Our findings touch the core of understanding how existing antibiotics work and provide us with new ways to further develop treatments in the face of the global epidemic of antibiotic resistance

Using this knowledge and understanding of how enzymes are controlled, the scientists also demonstrated the efficacy of a new combination therapy against Staphylococcus aureus

The research team used a simple model to study how bacterial cell walls swell during growth and division, and established a hypothesis about what happens when antibiotics such as penicillin inhibit this swelling

The project is led by the University of Sheffield and is an international, interdisciplinary project.

In 1930, Cecil George Paine, a member of the Department of Pathology at the University of Sheffield, first documented the use of penicillin as a treatment

Bartłomiej Salamaga, Lingyuan Kong, Laia Pasquina-Lemonche, Lucia Lafage, Milena von und zur Muhlen, Josie F.