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And gives a new place to look for antibiotics to tackle the growing problem of superbugs that resist our current drugs.

Professor José R Penadés and his team at Imperial College London had spent years working out and proving why some superbugs are immune to antibiotics.

Some bacteria, like Escherichia coli, are becoming increasingly resistant to conventional antibiotics and developing into what are known as "superbugs."

The latest findings echo those found previously by the World Health Organization, which attributes superbug development to the overuse of antimicrobials to fight viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Despite the mounting toll — and the prospect of an eventual surge in superbug fatalities — the development of new antibiotics has stagnated.