Science: Partial Mechanism of Host Recognizing Bacteria
Our innate immunity system is quite clever: certain structures, characteristic of many microorganisms that are recognized via toll-like receptors (TLR) and TLR trigger the necessary inflammatory response. However, the receptor system is so sensitive that this situation in turn can be dangerous too: the immune response to serious infections may be over-exaggerated and miss the mark which might lead to blood poisoning and frequently septic shock.
Scientists tracked the immune-activating ability and thus won the 1998 Nobel Prize. By virtue of certain cellular sensor molecules, such as TLR, we are not annoyed by infection though we are surrounded by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. TLR recognizes the molecular structure of pathogens and intercede by ensuring an often completely unnoticeable elimination of the invaders. A few months ago, an international research team led by Prof. Dr. Carsten Kirschning of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University hospital Essen and the University of Duisburg-Essen and PD Dr. Hubertus Hochrein and others examined the complex recognition of bacteria. And their findings later were published in the research journal of Science.
In view of this, those experts decided to further explore the host recognition of some bacteria and they picked the main agents of blood poisoning – Staphylococcus and E.coli as objectives. They established that in the cell, TLR13 recognizes the segment of bacterial ribosomal ribonucleic acid to which specific antibiotics such as Erythromycin also bind should the segment not have been altered by mutation or other modifications. The concrete ribonucleic acid is referred as 23S rRNA. Animal and human ribosomes do not bind Erythromycin to their own 28S rRNA because its structure resembles that of the 23S rRNA of resistant bacteria.
This new finding make people better understand about the mechanism of antibiotic resistance. It is also significant for the treatment of bacterial infections. In addition, these findings may be of help in the therapy of immunological overreactions and lead to new vaccination strategies.
Article Link: Science: Partial Mechanism of Host Recognizing Bacteria
Tags: Microbiology, TLR, Immunology, Bacteria Recognizing Mechanism