Solar Energy News  
McMaster Researchers Discover New Mode Of How Diseases Evolve

With infectious diseases on the rise, the McMaster finding has implications on how new pathogens are identified in the environment. Scientists currently monitor the risk of new diseases by assessing the gene content of bacteria found in water, food and animals.
by Staff Writers
Hamilton, Canada (SPX) Feb 25, 2009
Researchers of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research have discovered a new way that bacteria evolve into something that can make you sick.

The finding, published in the Feb. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has implications for how scientists identify and assign risk to emerging diseases in the environment.

The researchers found that bacteria can develop into illness-causing pathogens by rewiring regulatory DNA, the genetic material that controls disease-causing genes in a body. Previously, disease evolution was thought to occur mainly through the addition or deletion of genes.

Brian Coombes, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, was the lead investigator of the study which involved researchers at McMaster University, the University of Melbourne, Australia and the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.

"Bacterial cells contain about 5,000 different genes, but only a fraction of them are used at any given time," Coombes said.

"The difference between being able to cause disease, or not cause disease, lies in where, when and what genes in this collection are turned on. We've discovered how bacteria evolve to turn on just the right combination of genes in order to cause disease in a host. It's similar to playing a musical instrument - you have to play the right keys in the right order to make music."

With infectious diseases on the rise, the McMaster finding has implications on how new pathogens are identified in the environment. Scientists currently monitor the risk of new diseases by assessing the gene content of bacteria found in water, food and animals.

"This opens up significant new challenges for us as we move forward with this idea of assigning risk to new pathogens," Coombes said. "Because now, we know it's not just gene content - it is gene content plus regulation of those genes."

Related Links
McMaster University
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Climate Change May Alter Malaria Patterns
Chicago IL (SPX) Feb 24, 2009
Temperature is an important factor in the spread of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, but researchers who look at average monthly or annual temperatures are not seeing the whole picture. Global climate change will affect daily temperature variations, which can have a more pronounced effect on parasite development, according to a Penn State entomologist.







  • Patience Pays Off With Methanol For Uranium Bioremediation
  • Italy takes first step to return to nuclear energy
  • Launch date to be set for Iran's first nuclear plant
  • Enel to take stake in French reactor project: sources

  • Climate change risk underestimated: study
  • 2008 Was Earth's Coolest Year Since 2000
  • US, China pledge joint effort on economy, climate change
  • Scientists map CO2 emissions with Google Earth

  • Nutrient Pollution Chokes Marine And Freshwater Ecosystems
  • US milk company denies China products unsafe
  • New study points to GM contamination of Mexican corn
  • Aerosols - Their Part In Our Rainfall

  • Urban elephants ply Bangkok streets in search of tourist dollars
  • Great Lake's Sinkholes Host Exotic Ecosystems
  • Bizarre Bird Behavior Predicted By Game Theory
  • Ribosome Building Blocks

  • MIT Rocket Aims For Cheaper Nudges In Space
  • India's Cryogenic Engine Set For Integration With Rocket
  • Segment Of Ares I-X Test Rocket Arrives At Kennedy
  • Boeing Submits Proposals For Ares V Rocket Design Support

  • Nuclear Power In Space - Part 2
  • Outside View: Nuclear future in space
  • Nuclear Power In Space

  • Orbital's Launch Of Taurus Rocket Is Unsuccessful
  • Counting Carbon
  • Google shoots down 'Atlantis' pictures
  • Five Things About The Orbiting Carbon Observatory

  • Team Develops New Metamaterial Device
  • One Of The Most Important Problems In Materials Science Solved
  • NASA mission to monitor carbon dioxide fails
  • Eight Years In Orbit For Swedish Research Satellite

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement