The methyltransferase rlmN is required to make a cozy ribosomal pocket for an antibiotic called linezolid. When rlmN is broken, the antibiotic doesn’t work as well. No one has observed this association in tuberculosis before, and we’re excited to share this result with the scientific community.

This week, the SAGE lab at UMass Amherst (including yours truly!) released our preprint, “A frameshift mutation in the methyltransferase rlmN is associated with increased linezolid resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis”.

Link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The methyl groups hanging off the nitrogen atoms (the Ns) are the finishing touches that make caffeine into caffeine rather than theobromine (our favorite chocolate molecule) or something else. These methyl groups are added by *methyltransferase* enzymes that *transfer* a *methyl* to the target.