Yale scientists 'see' basis of antibiotic ...( hy that mutation has the effect that it...)

The change of that one base in the ribosomal RNA reduced the ability of the antibiotic to bind by a factor of 10,000.

Mutation of this type happens naturally, but rarely -- only one in 100,000 to one in 10,000,000 bacterial mutations will cause this kind of resistance. However, each bacterium can divide as often as every 20 minutes, allowing one with a resistant mutation to rapidly cause a dangerous infection.

Steitz and Moore are among the co-founders of Rib-X, a New Haven-based start-up company that has exclusive license to the high-resolution crystal structure of the ribosome they revealed. Rib-X is utilizing this information to create new antibiotics; they project Phase-I trials of their first drug to begin in early 2006.

Daqi Tu, a student, and Gregor Blaha, a postdoctoral fellow in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and associate of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, are co-authors on the study.

Funding for this research was obtained from the National Institutes of Health and the Agouron Institute.

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Contact: Janet Rettig Emanuel
janet.emanuel@yale.edu
203-432-2157
Yale University
21-Apr-2005