A New Recording Reveals the Sharpest Image of Living Bacteria - Interesting Engineering

The researchers have discovered that their protective outer membrane contains networks of protein building blocks interspersed with patches that do not appear to contain them -- instead, they are rich in molecules with sugary chains (glycolipids), which help to maintain the outer membrane tight.

“By studying live bacteria from the molecular to cellular scale, we can see how membrane proteins form a network that spans the entire surface of the bacteria, leaving small gaps for patches that contain no protein," explains corresponding author Professor Bart Hoogenboom at UCL and UCL Physics & Astronomy, in a press release.

"This suggests that the barrier may not be equally hard to breach or stretch all over the bacterium, but may have stronger and weaker spots that can also be targeted by antibiotics.".