Breaking up the superbugs' party

The fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs has taken a step forward thanks to a new discovery involving scientists from the School of Pharmacy.

A multi-disciplinary research team at the University’s Centre for Biomolecular Sciences has uncovered a new way of inhibiting the toxicity and virulence of the notorious superbug, Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  In a study published in the open access journal PLOS Pathogens, the Nottingham team, including Professor Jonas Emsley, has described how they solved the 3D structure of a receptor protein called PqsR used by P. aeruginosa to detect quorum sensing signal molecules.

Professor of Macromolecular Crystallography, Jonas Emsley, added: “These crystal structural studies present novel insights into bacterial transcription factor ligand and inhibitor binding and provide a chemical scaffold for further anti-P. aeruginosa virulence drug development by targeting the quorum sensing receptor PqsR.”  

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