All cells require phosphorus for growth.
The assimiliation of environmental phosphorus in the model organism Escherichia coli involves a large number of genes belonging to the phosphate regulon. Also, small molecules such as acetyl phosphate play a role in protein phosphorylation in bacteria. A separate research project in the lab regulatory interactions between phosphate and carbon metabolism via a process termed cross regulation, which might be important in the overall global control of cell growth and metabolism. The emergence of bacteria that are resistant to nearly every clinically useful antibiotic in recent years has created a crisis within the biomedical community. Basic research is being carried out on the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, and in particular on the antibiotic vancomycin.