Researchers Uncover Protection Mechanism Of Radiation-resistant Bacterium
Date: 23.3.2007
Results of a recent study titled “Protein Oxidation Implicated as the Primary Determinant of Bacterial Radioresistance,” will be published in the March 20 edition of PLoS Biology. The study, headed by Michael J. Daly, Ph.D., associate professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), Department of Pathology, shows that the ability of the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans to endure and survive enormous levels of ionizing radiation (X-rays and gamma-rays) relies on a powerful mechanism that protects proteins from oxidative damage during irradiation.
The field of radiobiology is built on the premise that radiation is dangerous because of its damaging effects on DNA. Contrary to that view, Daly et al report that the ability of cells to survive radiation is highly dependent on the amount of protein damage caused during irradiation. Surprisingly, a dose of radiation that is sufficient to cause only minor DNA damage in radiation sensitive cells will cause high levels of protein damage compared to resistant cells exposed to the same dose.
This new model of radiation toxicity shifts the emphasis away from DNA damage toward protein damage, where DNA repair-related proteins in sensitive cells are devastated by radiation long before DNA is significantly damaged. In contrast, repair enzymes in extremely...
Whole article: "http://www.sciencedaily.com":[ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070320095902.htm]
Related articles
Antibiotic resistance countered - US scientists believe they may have found a way to stop the growing problem of bacteria becoming resistant to current drug treatments (11.7.2007)
Rare 'Gene-for-gene' Interaction Helps Bacteria Kill Their Host - Scientists have discovered that a cousin of the plague bacterium uses a single gene to out-fox insect immune defences and kill its host (7.5.2007)
