Tuberculosis still represents the infectious disease with the highest fatality numbers and is caused by mycobacteria. The fatty acid biosynthetic factory is an important target in the fight against this infectious bacterium. The team led by Holger Stark and Ashwin Chari has now discovered a protein that commands and controls FAS function. This finding not only opens up new therapeutic venues, particularly against tuberculosis. In biotechnological applications this new control unit enables the generation of tailor-made fatty acid synthases.
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