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
2 comments:
Jackie-
Great choice in article! The title really draws the reader in! In the summary, it is kind of confusing when you say "embed small molecules that are not products of themselves into their cell walls." I think I know what you are trying to say, but it is just a little confusing. I did not really understand how MRSA and AIDS relate to the bacteria that you were talking about, so you might want to describe that species of bacteria in depth. Great discussion and questions! For the resources, I think you might want to add where you got your image from (if not from the article), and you did not post the full URL for the article. Other than those few minor errors, great job!
Jackie,
This was a really interesting article! You had all of your sections, but you should probably post the full URL in your resources section.
The connection between Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA and AIDS is not very clear. You would want to explain whether that bacteria causes MRSA and AIDS, or if it is related to the bacteria which cause those diseases. Also, when you say that the scientists "embed the proteins in the cell wall," how would they plan on doing that? Another question I have is that does "embedding proteins" in the cell wall mean that it is like proteins in a membrane, or different? Your questions really showed that you read the article! Overall, fantastic job!
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