incredible! The unprecedented complex appearance of living bacteria

This research was published today (October 25, 2021) in "PNAS" and was completed in collaboration with scientists from the National Physical Laboratory, King's College London, Oxford University and Princeton University, revealing the bacteria with a protective layer- Gram-negative bacteria-there may be stronger spots and weaker spots on the surface

The research team found that the outer membrane of the bacterium's protective layer contains dense protein-forming networks composed of protein-free plaques

This is an important discovery because the hard outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria prevents certain drugs and antibiotics from penetrating cells: this outer membrane is why these bacteria (including Baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter Antimicrobial resistance in families such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli) is now considered to be a greater threat than Gram-positive bacteria such as resistant Staphylococcus aureus (known as MRSA) in part

"The outer membrane is a strong barrier against antibiotics and an important factor in making infectious bacteria resistant to drug treatments

"By studying living bacteria from the molecular to the cellular scale, we can see how membrane proteins form a network that spans the entire surface of the bacteria, leaving small gaps for protein-free plaques

In order to better understand this structure, the scientists placed a small needle on the living E.

The resulting image shows that the entire outer membrane of the bacteria is filled with micropores formed by proteins that allow nutrients to enter while preventing toxins from entering

Surprisingly, these images also showed many plaques that did not seem to contain protein

Georgina Benn, who performed microscopic observations of bacteria in the laboratory of Professor Hugenboom of University College London, explained: “The pictures of the outer membrane of bacteria in the textbook show that the proteins are disorderly distributed on the membrane and mixed with other components of the membrane.

The team also speculates that these findings may help explain how bacteria can maintain a tightly arranged protective barrier while still allowing rapid growth: the ordinary E.

"Phase separation in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli" 25 October 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .