A unique characteristic of Helicobacter pylori could serve to end infections of this gastric bacterium. A group of scientists from the University of Munich have found that this pathogen has a strategic point in its mitochondrial respiratory complex I that could be targeted with inhibitors. “We did not look for respiration inhibitors in the first place,” co-senior author Wolfgang Fischer told BioWorld. “We screened libraries with a reporter assay, looking for something different, a particular protein secretion, the secretion system type (T4SS). Then, we found that a lot of compounds inhibit this process. From these compounds, we came to the point that they are actually respiration inhibitors,” he explained.