About McrBC

McrBC — a complex bacterial protein which helps prevent viral infections in a bacterial cell and functions as a molecular scissor.

This is the first report of the high-resolution structure from India determined using electron cryomicroscopy, commonly known as cryo-EM.

The pathbreaking structure of the McrBC was published last month in two prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journals — Nature Communications and Nucleic Acids Research

— and is said to be a major step towards understanding the working of the molecular scissors.

The determination of the McrBC’s structure has long-term implications in ‘phage therapy’ and could help combat drug-resistant infections in the future.

Phages are groups of viruses that infect and kill bacterial cells and phage therapy is the therapeutic use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections.