Definitions
Embedding - to fix firmly
Perturb - to disturb; to bother
Bacteria - Single-celled microorganisms which are parasites
Summary
Scientists at Yale University are trying to trick the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria to embed small molecules that are not products of themselves into their cell walls. The Staphylococcus aureus has an enzyme called sortase A that watches over the molecules and proteins that attach to the cell wall. The cell wall is an important area of the cell because it contains the components the cell uses to relate to its environment. David Spiegel, a chemist at Yale said "By being able to manipulate the cell wall, we can in theory perturb the bacteria's ability to interact with human tissues and host cells." If the scientists can get the bacteria to think that the foreign molecules are it's own products, they could control the number of people killed by MRSA and AIDS.
Discussion
I chose this article because I thought it was interesting how scientists could manipulate bacteria. This relates to my regular life and and the entire world because people around the whole world die from MRSA and AIDS. The embedding of small foreign molecules into bacteria has potential to stop some of the most dangerous diseases from affecting more people. I think it's very important and interesting that the scientists are spending so much time on this, because it could have a very big impact. Many people die yearly from Staphylococcus aureus infections. Not only will this save many people, but scientists will be able to understand the way bacteria work much better.
Questions
1. What happens to people infected with Staphylococcus aureus?
2. How did the scientists working with the bacteria think of embedding molecules into the cell wall?
Resources
Yale University. "Scientists Trick Bacteria Into Embedding Small Molecules in Cell Wall." ScienceDaily 8 October 2010. 14 October 2010 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101007171415.htm
