Novel toxin receptor discovered for ulcer-causing stomach pathogen

Helicobacter pylori is one tough bug. It can survive in the human stomach, a zone with a pH somewhere between that of lemon juice and battery acid. Now researchers have discovered how an H. pylori toxin gets into cells, a feat that helps the bacterium live in one of the most inhospitable environments in the body. Their findings appear this week in PLoS Pathogens, a journal of the Public Library of Science.