KINGSTON, Ontario, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Canadian scientists say a new type of protein they discovered might be useful in developing treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Queen's University researchers in Kingston, Ontario, say their accomplishment of solving the structure and activity of the protein -- called YihE or RdoA -- opens possibilities for new drug development.
"Our group is the first to solve the structure and to begin to understand the function of this particular protein," said Nancy Martin, who coordinated the study with Zongchao Jia. "It turns out to be a potentially good target in a wide range of bacteria that cause infectious diseases."
Martin says because of the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant strains of many different types of bacteria, such as salmonella, new approaches to antibiotic therapy are needed.
The study by researchers, who also included Jimin Zheng, Vinay Singh and Chunhua He, appears in the on-line edition of the journal Molecular Microbiology.
