Portuguese researchers pave the way for discovery of new antibiotics against tuberculosis.
The identification of the structure of an enzyme essential for the survival of the bacillus of the disease was essential to research by a team of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Porto in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Coimbra.
It is the first time that the enzyme GPGS, for which there is no equivalent in humans is characterized structurally. She participates in the construction of cell walls of the causative organism of tuberculosis, which, as in many other pathogenic bacteria, it allows agents to resist aggressors.
Known formula of the molecule, it is a plausible target for future therapeutic intervention.
Tuberculosis is a disease with high incidence in Portugal, where the rate is almost double the EU average, according to World Health Organization (WHO). In 2006 there were more than 32 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.
The work is published in today's edition of the American scientific journal PLoS ONE.
The identification of the structure of an enzyme essential for the survival of the bacillus of the disease was essential to research by a team of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Porto in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Coimbra.
It is the first time that the enzyme GPGS, for which there is no equivalent in humans is characterized structurally. She participates in the construction of cell walls of the causative organism of tuberculosis, which, as in many other pathogenic bacteria, it allows agents to resist aggressors.
Known formula of the molecule, it is a plausible target for future therapeutic intervention.
Tuberculosis is a disease with high incidence in Portugal, where the rate is almost double the EU average, according to World Health Organization (WHO). In 2006 there were more than 32 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.
The work is published in today's edition of the American scientific journal PLoS ONE.
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