June 2, 2011 Deadly bacteria may be evolving antibiotic
resistance by mimicking human proteins, according to a new study
by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). This
process of "molecular mimicry" may help explain why bacterial
human pathogens, many of which were at one time easily treatable
with antibiotics, have re-emerged in recent years as highly
infectious public health threats, according to the study
appearing in the online journal PLoS ONE, published by the
Public Library of Science. "This mimicry allows the bacteria to
evade its host's defense responses, side-stepping our immune
system," said Dr. Mia Champion, an Assistant Professor in TGen's
Pathogen Genomics Division, and the study's author. Using
genomic sequencing, the spelling out of billions of genetic
instructions stored in DNA, the study identified several
methyltransferase protein families that are very similar in
otherwise very distantly related human bacterial pathogens.
These proteins also were found in hosts such as human