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The Trojan horse of Staphylococcus aureus: The infectious bacterium diverts to its advantage a structure set up by human cells, in order to destroy them and invade the organism

Staphylococcus aureus causes different types of infections in humans, some of which are lethal. One of its most powerful weapons is α-toxin, which destroys host cells by forming pores in their membranes. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have identified the mechanism that allows these pores to be particularly harmful, by being anchored to contacts sites between cells. The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, uncovers how different proteins of human cells assemble into a complex to which pores are docked, and then molecularly "locked" to stabilize them. The biologists also demonstrate that blocking the assembly of the complex by removing one or the other of its elements allows pores to be removed from the membrane and cells to survive. Identifying the host's cellular mechanisms that contribute to the virulence of toxins is essential to develop therapeutic approaches against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

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