Tricky toxin. A protein called BPSL1549 ( showed ) could be Burkholderia pseudomallei 's main tool to kill the animal cells.
AAAS / science
Suave spy James Bond carries many infamous gadgets, poison dart pen Laser- fire watches. But a recently discovered protein belonging to the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei , the culprit behind the Asian and Australian north-south disease melioidosis can be more deadly than all. A new study suggests that this protein called BPSL1549-could make the bacteria 100 times more deadly than the microbes designed to stop making the toxin.
melioidosis, also known as "bomb Vietnam ticking," received great attention largely after the Vietnam War. As helicopters deposited troops throughout the country tropical, blades kicking up 'dirt, exposing soldiers and pilots to hidden pathogens in the soil. melioidosis tends to cause a range of symptoms similar to other conditions, leading some scientists to give the second nickname " Great mimicker. " "You look like you have some skin irritation ... or you might have an abscess on your liver," says co-author Stuart Wilson, a molecular biologist at the University of Sheffield in the UK. " and it is the same disease. "
many patients with melioidosis down with a severe form of the infection known, septicemia, melioidosis has long said researcher Sharon Peacock of the University of Cambridge in the United -um, who was not involved in this study. this bacterial attack can be treated with only a narrow range of antibiotics, she said, and in some places, the mortality rate can be as high as 40%.
the fight against the disease is difficult. Not only does it look like other diseases, but B. pseudomallei bacteria grow slowly, emerge days later that many microbes in cultures laboratory.
To fight against this master spy, Wilson and his colleagues dug into his arsenal. The team spotted a suspicious B. pseudomallei proteins, BPSL1549, which, along a certain stretch of its structure resembles a common enzyme E scherichia [coli[1945023 bacteria. This E. coli protein is a cell toxin, Wilson adds that quickly dismantles the molecular skeletons that support the cells. The enzyme of melioidosis bacterium can also carry a death blow, the researchers report online today in Science .
To observe the enzyme into action, Wilson and his colleagues treated mice in both normal B. pseudomallei bacteria and strains that heap versions of failures of BPSL1549 toxin. It took about 100 times more bacteria designed to kill rodents, he said, showing that if the microbe produces other poisons, BPSL1549 can be the worst.
When the group mixed the toxic proteins with a range of molecules from human cells, they found that the bacteria arms do not degrade cellular skeletons as E. coli toxin. Instead, the enzyme zeros on another target a molecule called eIF4AI. This molecule plays an essential role in the production in the cell protein chain, said Wilson. When the bacterial toxin puts the kibosh on it, the human cells are likely unable to unsubscribe many of their building blocks. Regarding the spy gadgets go, this protein is a killer "powerful", he added.
This is bad news for those infected, but potentially good news for researchers. If scientists can find a cons-agent such as an antibody that disables BPSL1549, they might be able to treat patients with melioidosis, Wilson said.
"The evidence paper does not seem to be quite clear," said Peacock. The culprit Wilson seems to be responsible for most of B. pseudomallei deadly power of, she said. and this could be an important revelation from the large mimicker could be more common than many thought. scientists have identified the bacteria as far as Vietnam and Thailand such as South America, she added.
But the potential drugs are far, warns Herbert Schweizer, a microbiologist at the Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Like most pathogens or secret agents, B. pseudomallei probably a lot of gadgets up his sleeve If scientists silent one, he said, the bacteria can fall back on other weapons just as deadly
Correction:.. An earlier version of this story suggests that the bacterial strain designed by Wilson and colleagues product versions or "defective" "failures" of the BPSL1549 protein. These bacteria do not produce the protein at all. The enzyme also zeros on eIF4A1 molecule, not eLF4A1.
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