East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Bacteria invasion secrets found

A team of scientists have made a discovery about how infectious bacteria invade the human body. Nitric oxide (NO) is the poisonous gas produced by the body to destroy bacterial cells, but microbes have evolved special sensors to help them survive. The research team, led by Matt Hutchings of the University of East Anglia and Nick Tucker of the John Innes Centre, an independent research centre, demonstrated for the first time how these sensors work at a molecular level. It is hoped that the discovery could pave the way for the development of inhibitors to block NO sensing and help the immune system kill invading bacteria.