Penicillin research raises hopes in battle to beat superbug

PENICILLIN, the original wonderdrug, could help defeat MRSA after scientists discovered how pneumonia has become resistant to it. Scientists say penicillin has stopped working against the hospital superbug because it cannot destroy its bacterial cell wall – called the peptidoglycan.

They identified a protein, MurM, that helps to build this wall, a protective mesh that allows otherwise fragile bacteria, such as pneumonia and MRSA, to thrive. Biologist Dr Adrian Lloyd, of Warwick University, said: "We hope our findings will help to restore pneumonia's sensitivity to penicillin."