Oliver Adams successfully elucidated the structure of the M. tuberculosis MmpL3 membrane transporter using cryo-EM and this has recently been published online in Structure. This was the main aim of his PhD studies in Simon Newstead‘s group in the Department of Biochemistry here in Oxford.
It is an important protein structure since although other MmpL3 structures have been solved, this is the first one from M. tuberculosis and, as the only essential member of the MmpL family, is targeted by a number of drugs under development, for example SQ109 which is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials. Being able to see how the drug interacts with the protein can help us understand a variety of effects, from binding to resistance.
