In the process, activated HTIs react with the cell and molecular oxygen, transferring electrons to produce ROS that batter the target cells.
“These are not killing cells by mechanically ripping open the membranes like the earlier ones do,” Tour said. “They induce enough disruption that reactive oxygen species and free radicals are generated and end up killing the cells.
“So it’s not the fast necrotic death that we saw before,” he said. “It’s a little bit slower, but it’s extremely efficient.”
“An important advantage of these molecules is that they have a narrow spectrum of activity and selectively kill a specific group of bacteria, Gram-positive bacteria,” Santos said. “Therefore, they are less likely to cause the side effects seen with broad-spectrum antibiotics that indiscriminately kill both ‘bad’ and ‘good’ bacteria, and they are also less likely to lead to resistance because only one group of bacteria is affected.”
Gram-positive bacteria lack an outer membrane (though they have a thick peptidogly