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  • RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

How the antibiotic fidaxomicin targets an intestinal pathogen

The antibiotic fidaxomicin acts selectively on the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, a main cause of intestinal infections. Structural and biochemical experiments reveal a region in the enzyme RNA polymerase that can sensitize the pathogen to fidaxomicin, helping to explain the drug’s selective clinical activity.

This is a summary of: Cao, X. et al. Basis of narrow-spectrum activity of fidaxomicin on Clostridioides difficile. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04545-z (2022).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00777-1

‘Expert opinion’ is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

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