{"id":237937,"date":"2026-05-29T02:32:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/how-bacteria-survive-with-almost-no-oxygen-and-why-blocking-one-enzyme-could-aid-new-antibiotics"},"modified":"2026-05-29T02:32:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:32:45","slug":"how-bacteria-survive-with-almost-no-oxygen-and-why-blocking-one-enzyme-could-aid-new-antibiotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/how-bacteria-survive-with-almost-no-oxygen-and-why-blocking-one-enzyme-could-aid-new-antibiotics","title":{"rendered":"How bacteria survive with almost no oxygen\u2014 and why blocking one enzyme could aid new antibiotics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/how-bacteria-survive-with-almost-no-oxygen-and-why-blocking-one-enzyme-could-aid-new-antibiotics.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Researchers in Leiden have, for the first time, observed how a specialized enzyme helps bacteria stay alive when oxygen levels are low, and how that process can be blocked. The <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/sciadv.aec9946\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a>, published in <i>Science Advances<\/i>, opens up new possibilities for targeted antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p>It really exists: a secret trick that allows bacteria to survive with very little oxygen. This also applies to bacteria that can make us sick. \u201cLike us, these bacteria need oxygen to survive,\u201d says Ph.D. candidate Tijn van der Velden. \u201cBut unlike humans, they have a special enzyme called cytochrome bd that allows them to keep producing energy even when oxygen levels are very low.\u201d Because the enzyme is so important for bacterial survival, it is a promising target for new antibiotics, including potential treatments for tuberculosis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers in Leiden have, for the first time, observed how a specialized enzyme helps bacteria stay alive when oxygen levels are low, and how that process can be blocked. The study, published in Science Advances, opens up new possibilities for targeted antibiotics. It really exists: a secret trick that allows bacteria to survive with very [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}