New paper on effects of complement proteins on E. coli cell envelope
Complement proteins eliminate Gram-negative bacteria in the blood via the formation of membrane attack complex (MAC) pores in the outer membrane.
In work led by Georgina Benn in Bart Hoogenboom’s lab, published in The EMBO Journal, we demonstrate that bacterial cell lysis is only an indirect effect of MAC formation; outer membrane poration leads to mechanical destabilization of the cell envelope, reducing its ability to contain the turgor pressure, leading to inner membrane permeation and cell death. We were very happy to contribute some live cell microscopy measurements to this study.