Context: Recently, researchers at IIT-Bombay are using biologically active lipid molecules as chemical biology tools to understand their biological disease-causing function. They are using lipids from Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb)

About Lipids

• They are molecules that contain hydrocarbons and make up the building blocks of the structure and function of living cells.
• They are responsible for maintaining the integrity of our cell membrane, which allows nutrients and drugs to pass through the cell.
• They play a major role in altering properties of the cell membrane.

Role of lipids in Infectious Dieases

• It plays a critical mechanisms involved in host-pathogen which is being explored.
• It represents a golden opportunity to deepen the understanding of the function of Mtb lipids in membrane-dictated bacterial survival, pathogenesis, and drug resistance.
• Scientists are also investigating the role of Mtb lipids in drug-membrane interactions, underscored by the fact that lipids critically dictate the molecular interactions of drugs with membranes influencing drug diffusion, partitioning, and accumulation.
• The Membrane structures specific to mycobacterial lipids have also been developed which can act as ‘cell-free’ platforms for anti-tubercular (relating to TB) drug interactions.

Significance of this study

• It helps in Investigating antibiotic interactions with mycobacterial (causative agent of Tuberculosis) specific membranes for future antibiotic design.
• It helps in Shaping the effectiveness of already existing anti-TB drug molecules and fostering development of new ones.

About Mycobacteria tuberculosis

• Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the etiological agent of tuberculosis. 
• Tuberculosis bacteria enter the body through the inhalation of infectious droplet nuclei. 
• M. tuberculosis infects one third of the world's population, with 8.7 million new cases reported each year.
• Mtb infection occurs when few tubercle bacilli dispersed in the air from a patient with active pulmonary TB reach the alveoli of the host.