Scientists have identified what may be a completely new way in which bacteria defend themselves against their hosts. The bacteria have stolen a key defensive gene from the very animals that they are invading – and are now using it against them. This research from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is featured in today’s issue of the open access journal Genome Biology. EMBL Team Leader Toby Gibson points out that such a discovery has clear medical implications. “This study gives us insight into how infectious bacteria function – microbes that cause diseases such as pneumonia, whooping cough and plague are using our own gene against us,” he explains. “With this new information, we could potentially produce antibodies to give our immune systems a way to identify the bacteria and block the activity of these weapons.”
