Medical News Today reports that a new type of protein discovered by Queen’s University researchers may be useful in developing treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as those that cause food poisoning and typhoid.

By solving the structure and activity of the protein – called YihE or RdoA – a team of professors and students from the departments of Biochemistry and Microbiology & Immunology has opened up 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," says Dr. Nancy Martin (Microbiology & Immunology), who coordinated the study with Dr. Zongchao Jia (Biochemistry). "It turns out to be a potentially good target in a wide range of bacteria that cause infectious diseases." Because of the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant strains of many different types of bacteria, such as salmonella, she notes, new approaches to antibiotic therapy are needed.