For the first time, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have mapped how bacterial cells trigger their defence against outside attacks. This could affect how diseases are fought in the future.
With the aid of highly advanced microscopes and synchrotron sources, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have gained critical insight into how bacteria function as defence mechanisms against attacks from other bacteria and viruses. The study, which has just been published in the renowned journal, Nature Communications, also describes how the defence systems can be activated on cue. This discovery can turn out to be an important cornerstone in fighting diseases in the future.
The researchers have shown how a cell attacked by a virus activates a molecule called COA (Cyclic Oligoadenylate), which in turn activates a so-called protein complex called CSX1 to eradicate the attacker.
>Read more on the MAX IV website
Image: Model of the CSX1 protein complex.