Bacteria are the most helpful and the most harmful organisms for the human body in the world today. While the thousands of species in our guts keep us healthy, and help us digest food, other species, just as numerous, can cause us significant damage, and even death. Therefore, knowing how these microorganisms function is essential to keeping us safe. Currently, research teams are taking the first steps towards understanding how bacteria function, and how their cell cultures function. American researchers have recently made an important find in this field, PhysOrg reports.
Experts from the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) found a way of using mass spectrometry – an observations technique that is regularly use to determine the properties of very small structures – to observe the communication channels that form between various cell cultures, including those formed by bacteria. A study detailing the finds appears in the November 8 issue of the respected scientific journal Nature Chemical Biology. The paper was authored by UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences assistant professor Pieter C. Dorrestein.
“Scientists tend to study the metabolic exchange of bacteria, for example penicillin, one molecule at a time. Actually, such exchanges by microbes are much more complex, … (read more)
