Yellow color gives microbe its power

The bright-yellow pigment that tints the bacteria that cause staph infections is pivotal to the microbe’s virulence, a new study has found.

COLOR ME PAINFUL. Yellow Staphylococcus aureus (left dish) causes gaping infections when swabbed onto open wounds in mice (left hip), but the unpigmented strain (right dish) doesn’t. V. Nizet and Liu

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of infections acquired in hospitals and is fast becoming resistant to many antibiotics.