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Scientists Defuse the Vietnam Time Bomb

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2011Health, Sciencebacterial pathogen, bacterium, burkholderia, burkholderia pseudomallei, cancer, david rice, deadly tropical disease, diseases, drugs, endemic areas, esrf, european synchrotron radiation facility, france, grenoble, hiv and tuberculosis, kevin van cauter, key mechanism, melioidosis, northern australia, pmi2 funding, protein synthesis, rick titball, south east asia, structure of a protein, stuart wilson, therapies to prevent the proliferation of cancer cells, university of exeter, university of sheffield, us military personnel, vietnam time bomb, xrays at diamond light source

A key mechanism by which a bacterial pathogen causes the deadly tropical disease melioidosis has been discovered by an international team, including a University of Exeter scientist.

The findings are published in the journal Science and show how a toxin produced by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei kills cells by preventing protein synthesis.

The study, led by the University of Sheffield, paves the way for the development of novel therapies to combat the bacterium which infects millions of people across South East Asia and Northern Australia.

Using intense X-rays at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, and at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, the research team solved the structure of a protein from Burkholderia, the function of which was initially unknown. (more…)

It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants From Disease

By Guest PostMay 15, 2011Environment, Scienceactinobacteria, archaea, bacteria, berkeley lab, burkholderia, complex microbial network, coral reefs, deepwater horizon spill, disease, dna sequences, dutch scientists, environmental mysteries, gary andersen, gulf of mexico, immune system, mammals, pathogens, phylochip, plants, potato, psuedomonas, puerto rico, rathmann family foundation, rhizoctonia solani, rice, root fungus, soil, soil microbes, sugar beet, todd desantis, types of bacteria, vegetables, xanthomonas, yvette piceno

*Berkeley Lab scientists decipher immune system for plants beneath our feet*

Those vegetables you had for dinner may have once been protected by an immune system akin to the one that helps you fight disease. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Netherland’s Wageningen University found that plants rely on a complex community of soil microbes to defend themselves against pathogens, much the way mammals harbor a raft of microbes to avoid infections.

The scientists deciphered, for the first time, the group of microbes that enables a patch of soil to suppress a plant-killing pathogen. Previous research on the phenomenon of disease-suppressive soil had identified one or two pathogen-fighting microbes at work. (more…)

Tag Archives: burkholderia

Scientists Defuse the Vietnam Time Bomb

It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants From Disease