A molecule used by viruses to infect bacteria could form the basis of a new class of drugs. They could replace antibiotics that have become ineffective because bacteria have developed resistance. The discovery has been published in the journal Nature.
Phage viruses that infect bacteria have long been used to fight infections. In a new study, scientists have found a new mechanism by which viruses break down the bacteria’s immunity.
The CRISPR-Cas system plays a key role in protecting bacteria from viruses. A special protein with a helical region (HTH motif) opposes this. This region can turn bacterial genes off or on by binding to DNA. It has been shown to bind to RNA. This molecule acts as an intermediary between DNA, which contains the instructions for protein synthesis, and the protein-making machinery.
“This discovery is particularly exciting for the scientific community because it suggests a new regulatory mechanism in a well-studied protein family. HTH motifs have been extensively studied since their discovery in the early 1980s, so we initially thought that our protein would behave like other proteins with HTH motifs. We were very surprised to discover this new mode of action. “This discovery could change how scientists think about the function and mechanism of this important and widespread protein domain and have important implications for our understanding of gene regulation,” the authors said.
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Source: Gazeta
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