Scientists have cracked the atomic code of a deadly bug killer,
a breakthrough crowning a 40-year quest that could replace
antibiotics in therapies. Researchers from Monash (Australia)
Rockefeller and Maryland (US) Universities detailed how the
bacteriophage lysin, PlyC, kills bacteria causing infections
from sore throats to pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock
syndrome. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill
bacteria using special proteins called lysins, under
investigation since 1919 for potential treatments, but abandoned
with the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s, the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science reports. ”PlyC,
in its purified form, has been shown to be 100 times more
efficient at killing certain bacteria than any other lysin to
date – even faster than household bleach,” said study co-author
Ashley Buckle from Monash University, according to a Monash
statement. “Scientists have been trying to decipher the
structure of PlyC for more than 40 years. Finally knowing