Saturday, March 8, 2014
Key Enzyme Found in Disease-Causing Bacteria Responsible for Heart Valve Disease
Shruti Suresh
Period 2 Mathieu
Biology Honors
8 March 2014
Published: 5 March 2014
Author: Sathya Achia Abraham
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140305125245.htm
Summary:
On March 5th, 2014, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Philips Institute for Oral Health research in the School of Dentistry, led a preclinical study which resulted in a discovery of a vital enzyme in a disease-causing bacterium. In order to cause a serious heart infection, the disease-causing bacterium, which is found in the mouth, needs manganese. This discovery may lead to new findings to solve the mystery why certain bacteria need manganese to cause diseases. Earlier this week, researchers confirmed that manganese provides the necessary building blocks to make DNA. When the Virginia Commonwealth University team eradicated this enzyme or the protein that attaches the manganese to the enzyme, the bacterium could not cause the heart disease, endocarditis, nor could survive. According to corresponding author Todd Kitten, Ph.D., associate professor at the Phillips Institute for Oral Health Research at the VCU School of Dentistry, "The best antibiotics attack parts of a bacterium that are critical for bacterial survival, but are not found in human cells." As stated by Kitten, this manganese-needing bacteria fulfills both conditions because without manganese, it cannot live, and manganese is not found in human cells.
Connection:
This article directly relates to our curriculum because by studying this bacteria's function and structure, we can try to prevent the risks of endocarditis in humans. For example, because of this study, we now know that the bacteria that causes endocarditis needs the enzyme, manganese to survive and cause the disease. By creating an antibiotic to directly eliminate manganese in the bacterium, we can eliminate the bacteria as well. Eradicating the bacteria results in a prevention of a dangerous heart disease in humans. With this understanding, researchers can look at other disease-causing bacteria and see if they share similar factors with the manganese and help prevent those diseases and save many lives as well.
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Since Kitten said that humans have very little manganese in their bodies, does this bacteria's specialized systems extract the trace amounts of the manganese from the bodies or does the manganese come from a different source that enters our human bodies (like food)? If they do come from the small amounts from humans, how do their specialized systems help them extract the manganese from humans?
ReplyDeleteSince manganese is not found in human cells, where does it come from? Are there specific foods that provides humans with manganese? And since the presence of manganese can lead to endocarditis, is it safe for humans to refrain from eating these foods?
ReplyDeleteYes, there are specific foods that provide humans with manganese. For example the top ten foods with the highest amount of manganese are; seafood, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, whole wheat bread, tofu, beans, bass fish, spinach, kale and black tea. As you can see, most of these are staple foods in an average person's diet, and so it would be very hard to completely stop intaking manganese because you might also lose nutrients necessary to live a healthy life.
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