The discovery centres on the proteasome – a tiny structure that is found in every cell of the body.

Its main role is to chop up old proteins into smaller chunks so they can be recycled to make new ones.

But a series of experiments, detailed in the journal Nature, shows the proteasome detects when a cell has been infected by bacteria.

This is an amazing discovery! When it comes to fighting resistent bacteria though, I wish we finally moved forward with bacteriophage therapy.

Article doesn’t tell us if this is part of the inmate immune system or adaptive immune system. Can it, in theory, be programmed? Could these be engineered to rip apart things that aren’t protein, such as plastics?