(PhysOrg.com) -- To protect themselves from human defenses,
disease-causing bacteria have evolved a cell wall made from a
nearly impenetrable tangle of tightly woven strands. That’s made
it difficult for scientists to see what goes on inside these
potentially deadly organisms. But that era is now over. In
research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, Rockefeller University researchers have figured out
how to drill holes through the Kevlar-like hide of gram-positive
bacteria without obliterating them, and in doing so, they’ve
made it possible to study, from the inside out, most of the
known bacteria on the planet. The work, led by Vincent A.
Fischetti, head of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and
Immunology, provides, for the first time ever, a look inside the
rapidly multiplying and highly contagious Streptococcus
pyogenes, the culprit behind a myriad of diseases, including
strep throat and rheumatic fever. At a time when organisms are
increasingly acquiring “superbug” pow