Scientists at two Scottish universities have discovered a way to make bacteria explode, a breakthrough that may lead to new methods of killing hospital superbugs such as C. difficile and MRSA.

The scientists at St Andrews and Aberdeen universities were able to manipulate a tiny channel found inside bacteria cell walls that acts like a pressure-cooker valve and helps to keep bacteria alive. By using chemicals to close the channel, the scientists prevented the release of pressure, causing the bacteria to explode and die.

The channels are also present in MRSA and C. difficile and the scientists believe their findings could help them develop new antibiotics to combat the drug-resistant bugs.

Professor Ian Booth, who led the team from the University of Aberdeen, said: “Channels in bacteria perform absolutely key roles in cell survival. We have been able to show how this channel opens and closes.

“Understanding how they work will play a major role in inhibiting the survival of bacteria and could have applications as basic as cleansing hospital equipment and wards or helping to make food safer.”

He added: “These channels are found in MRSA and C.difficile and this knowledge has not yet been exploited. The future path is to find new chemicals and processes that exploit the importance of the channels to these bacteria.”

The discovery was hailed by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, and Hugh Pennington, Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, who said that it “opened new territory” in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bugs.

C. difficile and MRSA are linked to poor hygiene and the over-use of antibiotics. Recent figures from the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality show that deaths from MRSA and other similar bacteria have continued to rise in Scotland. In 2006, hospital-acquired infections were a contributing factor in the deaths of 422 people, up from 401 in 2005. Of these, 398 had an operation in the lead up to their deaths, up from 380.

This year nine patients at Vale of Leven Hospital died as a direct result of an outbreak of C. difficile, with the bug cited as a “contributory factor” in the deaths nine other patients.

The discovery of the channel, which is reported in the journal Science, is the culmination of molecular research at Aberdeen and structural science at St Andrews.

Together, the teams were able to exploit the fact that all bacteria have tiny channels in their walls. These operate like the valve on a pressure cooker, opening and closing to release pressure in the cell.

James Naismith, Professor of Chemical Biology at St Andrews University, said: “The system is mechanical; the channel senses the pressure inside the bacteria, and as a result the channel alters its shape and creates an opening, releasing the pressure.

“The motion is just like that of a camera iris and being able to see this motion is an amazing discovery.

“Not only is this a major step forward in scientific understanding of a fundamental process in biology but it paves the way for the development of new drugs against bacteria.

“It is vital to the bacteria that the channel fully closes and only opens at the right times as mistakes either way would be fatal.

“New chemicals designed to force channels to stay open or shut, are likely to kill or at the very least, greatly slow down the growth of bacteria.

“Slowing down the growth gives the body's natural defences time to tackle its bacterial invader.”

The two groups have been working together for several years and were supported by the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance, which was launched a year ago by the Scottish Funding Council. They received a £1.5million grant from the Wellcome Trust and funding from the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Unilever.

Professor Booth said: “This was a very demanding project and is down to tremendous team work in both universities.”

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