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Here’s how mysterious last-resort antibiotics kill bacteria

Polymyxins turn cell membranes into brittle, breakable crystals

A photo of a researcher looking at a clear petri dish with blue dots on it.

Polymyxin “last-resort” antibiotics kill bacteria by crystallizing their cell membranes.

Ted Horowitz/The Image Bank/Getty Images

By Elise Cutts

- More than 2 years ago

To kill drug-resistant bacteria, “last-resort” antibiotics borrow a tactic from Medusa’s playbook: petrification.

New high-resolution microscope images show that a class of antibiotics called polymyxins crystallize the cell membranes of bacteria.