Detailed structure of PelBC complex shows how bacteria build antibiotic-resistant biofilms

Biofilms are conglomerates of bacteria and other organisms, which are feared in medicine as well as other areas because they can contain pathogens and are highly resistant to treatment. Chemists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have, in collaboration with colleagues from Munich and Groningen, examined how the polysaccharide "Pel"—a central component of many biofilms—is exported out of the cell by the pathogen P. aeruginosa.