Scientists have discovered a new bacteria-killing toxin that can prove beneficial in combatting diseases infected by superbugs, a study has revealed. According to the new study, this growth inhibiting enzyme is injected by bacteria into rival bacteria to gain a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n
A team of researchers led by author John Whitney, assistant professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University, and co-author Mike Laub, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), explained that bacteria secreted antibacterial molecules when they came across a toxin, and the new toxin was an antibacterial enzyme that scientists had never seen before.<\/p>\n
Whitney and Ahmad after determining the molecular structure of this toxin realized that it resembled enzymes that synthesized a well-known bacterial signaling molecule called (p)ppGpp, which helps bacteria survive under stressful conditions such as exposure to antibiotics. Ahmad stressed the 3-D structure of this toxin was at first puzzling because no known toxins looked like enzymes that made (p)ppGpp, and (p)ppGpp itself was not a toxin.<\/p>\n
The authors earlier thought the toxin might kill bacteria by overproducing harmful quantities of (p)ppGpp. The findings published in the journal Nature suggested Boyuan Wang, a postdoctoral researcher in the Laub lab who specializes in (p)ppGpp signalling and examined the activity of the newly discovered enzyme, as concluding the toxin instead produced a poorly understood but related molecule called (p)ppApp, which is somehow harmful to bacteria.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the rapid production of (p)ppApp by this enzyme toxin depleted cells of a molecule called ATP -- the energy currency of the cell -- whose exhaustion killed pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. \"This discovery has potential implications for developing alternatives to antibiotics, a global priority in the fight against antimicrobial resistance,\" stressed Charu Kaushic, scientific director of the CIHR-III and a professor of pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster.<\/p>\n
The research concluded that it would be exciting to see whether other examples of this toxin were found across the bacterial domain or perhaps even in bacteriumhost interactions.<\/p>\n
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Antibiotic resistance: Scientists discover new toxin that promises to fight it out finally - International Business Times, Singapore Edition<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scientists have discovered a new bacteria-killing toxin that can prove beneficial in combatting diseases infected by superbugs, a study has revealed. According to the new study, this growth inhibiting enzyme is injected by bacteria into rival bacteria to gain a competitive advantage. A team of researchers led by author John Whitney, assistant professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University, and co-author Mike Laub, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), explained that bacteria secreted antibacterial molecules when they came across a toxin, and the new toxin was an antibacterial enzyme that scientists had never seen before. Continue reading