New Protein Identified In Bacterial Arsenal
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 12:29
in Biology & Nature
Nearly a billion years ago, bacteria evolved an insidious means of infecting their hosts -- a syringe-like mechanism able to inject cells with stealthy hijacker molecules. These molecules, called virulence factors, play a sophisticated game of mimicry, imitating many of the cells' normal activities but ultimately co-opting them to serve the bacteria's needs.