Streptococcus pyogenes or Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is capable of causing severe and lethal diseases such as necrotising fasciitis and Streptococcal Toxic-Shock Syndrome and globally accounts for over half a million deaths a year. Remarkably in this day and age of antimicrobial resistance GAS remains sensitive to penicillins and cephalosporins yet recurrent infections and treatment failures are common. One theory as to why this recurrence occurs is due to the formation of biofilms by GAS which may help to shield against antimicrobials and aid in host immune evasion. A common component of many bacterial biofilms are functional amyloid proteins, which utilise the inherent biophysical properties of amyloids to reinforce and provide robustness to the biofilm matrix. |
The Team
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