Staphylococcus aureus—also known as “golden staph”—has the ability to develop in highly variable environmental conditions (on the skin, in the nose, on sterile surfaces, and so forth). Its great adaptability depends on an RNA helicase involved in the degradation of RNA messengers that have become useless. In their attempts to have a better understanding of how this helicase works, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) discovered that it contributes to another physiological process without any apparent link to the first: the synthesis of the fatty acids that are the essential constituents of the bacterial membrane. This advance, to be published in the journal PLoS Genetics, offers an interesting insight since fatty acid synthesis is precisely one of the targets favored by numerous laboratories to fight this pathogen that is difficult to treat due to its resistance to antibiotics.
Click here for original story, Cold-sensitive staphylococci reveal a weakness
Source: Phys.org