How does the structure of hemolysin affect their activity?

Wilfred Van der Donk, professor of chemistry and researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said: "When you are infected with Enterobacter faecalis, you have an increased chance of death compared to bacteria that cannot produce cytolysin.

Worryingly, Enterobacter faecalis is resistant to vancomycin, which is the last resort to treat bacterial infections

Cytolysin is composed of two subunits, cyl" and cyls," these two subunits have previously been shown to kill mammalian and bacterial cells

"After mutating amino acid residues, we purified and tested each mutant to see if they have antibacterial activity or whether they can dissolve rabbit blood cells," the first author of this paper, Van der Dunk experiment Said Imran Rahman, a graduate student in the room

In addition, the researchers found that cyll "contains an equally important hinge region

These residues help Cyll "switch between two different shapes: a folding knife and an elongated shape that can span bacterial membranes

Researchers are interested in identifying the target of cytolysin

Journal Reference :

1. Rahman R.