'Cain-and-Abel' molecule

[tllwd]

A new bacterial molecule with the unsavory tendency to track down and kill others of its own kind has been discovered in the human microbiome by researchers at Princeton's Department of Chemistry. Named Streptosactin, it is the first small molecule found to exhibit fratricidal activity.

Streptosactin.gif

The discovery by the Seyedsayamdost lab is detailed in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

The Cain-and-Abel behavior has been found in another bacterium where enzymes or large proteins provide the fratricidal activity—but never before in a small molecule. The purpose of the behavior is not fully understood. Researchers believe fratricide could contribute to evolutionary fitness by enhancing the genetic makeup of the sibling population.

That's how microbes live—there is no morality. It's just raw survival

[Bobby]

https://chemistry.princeton.edu/news/se ... -molecule/

Seyedsayamdost Lab Uncovers Small Fratricidal Molecule

Research Highlights
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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2020


A new bacterial molecule with the unsavory tendency to track down and kill others of its own kind has been discovered in the human microbiome by researchers in the Department of Chemistry. Named Streptosactin, it is the first small molecule found to exhibit fratricidal activity.

The discovery by the Seyedsayamdost lab is detailed in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

The research describes a veritable needle-in-a-haystack hunt in which streptosactin was located “at the edge of detection.” Its production is so minimal and so difficult to track that researchers achieved the results only through a complex interplay of factors.

They used a clever bioinformatic search strategy developed a few years ago by Leah Bushin, a sixth-year graduate student in the Seyedsayamdost lab. This “genome-first” approach allowed them to screen molecules for two key characteristics: community behavior (thus uncovering the fratricide), and structural or topological novelty.

[tllwd]

the human microbiome

The human microbiota consists of the 10-100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells harbored by each person, primarily bacteria in the gut; the human microbiome consists of the genes these cells harbor

the question, “what is it to be human?”, has troubled humans from the beginning of recorded history

microbiome.gif

[Jasin]

Interesting stuff. Might be the contingency or loophole, if ever Mirror molecules develop here on this planet from an infection from outer space...
...which we know will happen. The search for life beyond, will bring much death.