Unravelling the Bacterial Surface Architecture

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have shed new light on the structure of bacterial cell wall in a study which has important implications for combating antimicrobial resistance.

• Scientists produced the first high-resolution images which revealed, in great detail, a new and unexpected structure of the outer bacterial layers of the deadly bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus.
  
• An advanced microscopy technique called Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used by the team. It works by using a sharp needle to feel the shape of a surface and build an image similar to a contour map, but at the scale of individual molecules.
• The findings give unprecedented ....