Now, scientists have spent six years studying the structure of the protein. They have found how it kills the bacteria that cause sore throats, pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
Australian researchers worked with scientists at the Rockefeller University in New York and the University of Maryland. Their findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sheena McGowan from Monash University describes the protein as a powerful bacterial killing machine. She says it looks like a flying saucer carrying a pair of warheads. It connects to the surface of the bacterium and then cuts through the outside to destroy it.
Dr. McGowan says it could be highly valuable when conditions like pneumonia do not respond to traditional treatments.
"There's antibiotics at the moment for those particular types of diseases. We sort of see that there's a bit of resistance being built up in the bacterial community almost, and some of our antibiotics aren't quite as effective as they used to be. So this kind of ground route, basic research needs to be done quite early so that we have some time to develop them as safe human therapeutic over the timeframe when the antibiotics can keep working."
The researchers have been studying PlyC's atomic structure in hopes of developing a drug. They say they have had success in treating streptococcal infections in mice. But an effective human treatment in the form of a pill or nasal spray may be at least ten years away.
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