The lack of ability to accomplish anything progressive in Congress isn't interesting since I have never seen it any different. However, there is decision making in phages, a type of virus which can kill bacterial cells, when they decide whether they will kill the cell or they won't. Sometimes they live in harmony with the cell and sometimes they whack it.
Researchers want to know what drives that decision-making process. (Science Daily: Decision-making process of viruses could lead to new antibiotic treatments)
The phage in the study focuses on E. coli and everyone loves to hate that one for all the damage it is capable of doing.
The lambda phage prefers to destroy E. coli bacteria, which makes it a prime target for researchers. Dr. Lanying Zeng, left, and her graduate student Jimmy Trinh developed a four-color fluorescence reporter system to track it at the single-virus level.
Credit: Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips
- SD
They're kids doing this research!
Here's the basis for the study.
Zeng explained that some phages can have two cycles of reproduction: lytic and lysogenic.
In the lytic cycle, full copies of the virus are made inside of a cell, say an E. coli cell. When the phage-infected cell becomes full of the replicating viruses, it bursts open and is destroyed. In the lysogenic cycle, the phage's DNA lives as part of the bacterium itself and both continue to reproduce as one. In short, lysis involves competition while lysogeny involves cooperation, she said.
So, a key to using phages to destroy bacteria, Zeng said, is to understand how and when a phage decides to "go lytic" on the pathogen.
- SD
If you're reading a possible counter to so-called 'super bugs,' then you're on the beam since it seems that's exactly what they're trying to do.
Zeng said because phage therapy is a growing field for seeking ways to treat bacteria, the results of this study will help other scientists advance their research.
"This is a paradigm for bacteriophages," she said. "When we understand the mechanism of the decision more, that can lead to more applications and better characterization of other systems."
- SD
Researchers want to know what drives that decision-making process. (Science Daily: Decision-making process of viruses could lead to new antibiotic treatments)
The phage in the study focuses on E. coli and everyone loves to hate that one for all the damage it is capable of doing.
The lambda phage prefers to destroy E. coli bacteria, which makes it a prime target for researchers. Dr. Lanying Zeng, left, and her graduate student Jimmy Trinh developed a four-color fluorescence reporter system to track it at the single-virus level.
Credit: Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips
- SD
They're kids doing this research!
Here's the basis for the study.
Zeng explained that some phages can have two cycles of reproduction: lytic and lysogenic.
In the lytic cycle, full copies of the virus are made inside of a cell, say an E. coli cell. When the phage-infected cell becomes full of the replicating viruses, it bursts open and is destroyed. In the lysogenic cycle, the phage's DNA lives as part of the bacterium itself and both continue to reproduce as one. In short, lysis involves competition while lysogeny involves cooperation, she said.
So, a key to using phages to destroy bacteria, Zeng said, is to understand how and when a phage decides to "go lytic" on the pathogen.
- SD
If you're reading a possible counter to so-called 'super bugs,' then you're on the beam since it seems that's exactly what they're trying to do.
Zeng said because phage therapy is a growing field for seeking ways to treat bacteria, the results of this study will help other scientists advance their research.
"This is a paradigm for bacteriophages," she said. "When we understand the mechanism of the decision more, that can lead to more applications and better characterization of other systems."
- SD
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