(Press-News.org) Brussels, 14 November 2012 – Flemish biologists lead by Joris Messens (VIB / Vrije Universiteit Brussel) have discovered that Mycobacterium tuberculosis – the bacterium that causes tuberculosis – has an ingenious defence mechanism against oxygen. This knowledge is important in the search for a treatment for tuberculosis. 9.4 million people are infected with tuberculosis annually and 1.7 million people die as a result.
Joris Messens: "We have discovered how Mycobacterium survives the oxygen stress in our body, namely with the aid of the protein mycoredoxin-1. This opens up a whole new field of research into the role of this protein during a tuberculosis infection. A better understanding of this mechanism will enable us to combat this bacterium more selectively".
Oxygen, a necessary evil
Oxygen is essential for the respiration of nearly all cells. They use this gas to burn sugars in order to produce energy. However, oxygen is also very aggressive and can seriously affect proteins – the building blocks of the cell – in a manner similar to rust or oxidation of iron.
Attacking essential proteins
Our immune system uses reactive oxygen molecules in the defence against intruders, for example against Mycobacterium. Proteins are particularly sensitive to the effects of oxygen (oxidation). Proteins with sulphur-containing components are particularly sensitive and become inactive with oxidation. Following damage by oxygen, Mycobacterium places the mycothiol molecule on such proteins. After a period of oxygen stress this molecule has to be removed again for the proper functioning of the protein. It was not known how this happened, until now.
Protection and recovery
Joris Messens and his team have discovered that Mycobacterium tuberculosis protects sulphur-containing proteins in a unique way and actively repairs these proteins once the oxygen stress disappears. They discovered the protein mycoredoxin-1, which forms the basis of this ingenious repair mechanism. The scientists analysed the protein structure and the function of the protein and found that mycoredoxin-1 selectively removes mycothiol from affected sulphur-containing proteins and thereby ensures the activation of these proteins.
Joris Messens: "We could combat tuberculosis more effectively by searching for components that disable mycoredoxin-1. The bacterium would not be able to recover as quickly from an oxygen attack by our immune system."
### END
'Missing link' discovered in the defence mechanism of the tuberculosis pathogen
2012-11-14
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Triclosan in cosmetics and personal care products can increase allergy risk
2012-11-14
Triclosan - an antibacterial chemical found in toothpaste and other products - can contribute to an increased risk of allergy development in children. This comes from the Norwegian Environment and Childhood Asthma Study, in which the Norwegian Institute of Public Health is involved. Similar results are reported in the USA.
Triclosan has been in use for decades, but was recently associated with allergies in children in an American study, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The new Norwegian study found similar associations between allergies ...
New brain gene gives us edge over apes, study suggests
2012-11-14
Scientists have taken a step forward in helping to solve one of life's greatest mysteries – what makes us human?
An international team of researchers have discovered a new gene that helps explain how humans evolved evolved from apes.
Scientists say the gene – called miR-941 – appears to have played a crucial role in human brain development and may shed light on how we learned to use tools and language.
Researchers say it is the first time that a new gene – carried only by humans and not by apes – has been shown to have a specific function within the human body.
A ...
Babies born to stressed mothers more likely to be bullied at school
2012-11-14
Children whose mothers were overly stressed during pregnancy are more likely to become victims of bullying at school.
New research from the University of Warwick shows stress and mental health problems in pregnant women may affect the developing baby and directly increases the risk of the child being victimised in later life.
The study has been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and is based on 8,829 children from the Avon Longtitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
Professor Dieter Wolke, Professor of Developmental Psychology at ...
Study investigates headshaking in horses
2012-11-14
Headshaking syndrome is when a horse shakes or jerks its head uncontrollably for no apparent reason. There are striking clinical similarities between facial pain syndromes in people, most notably trigeminal neuralgia, and headshaking in horses. Although some progress has been made towards both diagnosing and treating the condition in horses, the pathology of the disease remains unknown and further research is needed.
A recent study led by academics from the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences and the University of Liverpool, evaluated the long-term ...
Enhancing breast cancer detection
2012-11-14
Straightforward imaging with an infrared, thermal, camera for detecting breast cancer early without the discomfort or inconvenience of mammography or biomolecular tests, according to a study to be published in the International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications.
Tiago Borchartt of the Federal Fluminense University in Brazil and colleagues explain how breast thermography has up to now achieved an average sensitivity and specificity or approximately 90 percent for the detection of malignant tissue. The advantages of the technique are that it is painless, ...
Governing economic growth in the cloud
2012-11-14
Gross domestic product (GDP) can be boosted by cloud computing, the system in which remote computers on the Internet are used to store, manage and process data rather than the users' local machines. A report to be published in the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management suggests that governments should collaborate to boost the adoption of cloud computing internationally.
Marco Iansiti of Harvard Business School and Gregory Richards of Cambridge-based Keystone Strategy, LLC, have found that cloud computing is likely to extend economic growth by increasing ...
Melting glaciers raise sea level
2012-11-14
This press release is available in German.
Since 1900 the global sea level has risen by approximately 20 cm. Melting glaciers are one of the causes – along with warming and thereby expanding sea water, melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and changing terrestrial water storage in dammed lakes and groundwater reservoirs. A team of scientists at the University of Innsbruck has now assessed the contribution of melting glaciers to sea level rise during the 20th century. They numerically modeled each of the world's roughly 300 000 glaciers and used thousands of on-site ...
A risk gene for cannabis psychosis
2012-11-14
Philadelphia, PA, November 14, 2012 – The ability of cannabis to produce psychosis has long been an important public health concern. This concern is growing in importance as there is emerging data that cannabis exposure during adolescence may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, a serious psychotic disorder. Further, with the advent of medical marijuana, a new group of people with uncertain psychosis risk may be exposed to cannabis.
For these reasons, it would be valuable if a biological test could be developed that predicted the risk for developing cannabis ...
Hebrew University researchers show how we can do math problems unconsciously
2012-11-14
Jerusalem, Nov. 14, 2012 –Can we actually read words and phrases and solve multi-step mathematical problems without our having consciously been aware of them? A team in the Psychology Department at the Hebrew University has conducted a series of experiments that give a positive answer: people can read and do math non-consciously.
The results constitute a challenge to existing theories of unconscious processes, that maintain that reading and solving math problems -- two prime examples of complex, rule-based operations – require consciousness.
The conclusions of the Hebrew ...
Smoking affects allergy-relevant stem cells
2012-11-14
This press release is available in German.
Leipzig. Environmental contaminants, such as smoking, are harmful to the human organism in relation to the occurrence of allergies. This is known. Until now, researchers had never investigated whether and to what extent environmental contaminants also affect allergy-relevant stem cells. For the first time a team at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has found evidence for this: Smoking affects the development of peripheral allergy-relevant stem cells in the blood. In order to present this result Dr. Irina Lehmann ...