Fig 1: Structure of FtsZ protein determined by X-ray crystallography (4) and oligomeric structure arranged from the monomer (5).

The unprecedented increase in antibiotic-resistant pathogens and lack of new antibiotic development highlights the need for new anti-microbial drugs active against novel targets such as bacterial cell division proteins.  Recently, FtsZ (Filamenting temperature sensitive mutant Z) has become the focus of antibiotic research as a novel target for new anti-microbials (1, 2).