All It Takes is One Mutation

A university research team from Scotland recently discovered a bacteria that has mutated and gained the ability to jump from humans to rabbits.  The scientists traced the evolution of a specific bacterium that causes skin infections in rabbits: Staphylococcus aureus (ST121).  Strangely enough, ST121 has been found in some humans as well and although it's relatively harmless, it can sometimes lead to meningitis or sepsis.  

This similarity allowed the scientists to track the evolution of the pathogen and discover that the rabbit-specific ST121 bacteria evolved from the human-specific version over 40 years ago and mutated enough to be able to jump from humans to rabbits.  One genetic mutation allowed this to happen.  One naturally occurring genetic mutation was enough to completely change the bacteria and let it change host species.  The fact that a genetic mutation this small can alter a pathogen so much brings up a lot of questions and a lot of places where more studies can be done to see what other bacteria, if any, may be able to jump so easily from another species to humans or vice versa.  This could also pose a problem for industrial animal businesses that keep many different species of animals in close quarters.

I think this is a very interesting topic because it's bizarre; a human probably wouldn't expect to get an infection from a rabbit.  I also think it's interesting how only one genetic mutation allowed the bacteria to do this.  Scientists know little about bacteria and viruses because they are all so complex and there are many variations of them so scientists may never learn everything there is to know about their makeups.  It's important that scientists research this in more detail with other species of animals if they ever want to help slow or stop the spread of these species-hopping pathogens for peoples' and animals' sake.

Deadly Human Pathogen Cryptococcus Fully Sequenced

The strain H99, from the pathogenic lineage of Cryptococcus neoforms, has been genomically sequenced along with its complementary counterparts after a 10 year effort. This fungus gives rise to millions of cases of pneumonia and meningitis every year and up until now was a very dangerous, mysterious strain. With the genomic blueprint, scientists will be able to be able to test it repeatedly to find its weakness and how to fight against this deadly pathogen and its mutating strains. H99 is mutating strain that affects those with low immune systems such as individuals already infected with the HIV virus or transplant patients. Fred Dietrich and colleagues have isolated the strain and unraveled the genetic sequence in both a laboratory controlled setting as well as the host. This strain is so dangerous because it is able to produce genetic messages from both strands of DNA which enable it to constantly adapt to new environments thus making it a stronger, unbreakable virus. Dietrich and colleagues have uncoded the genome, DNA code, transcriptome, and the RNA molecules. There are approximately 20 million ACTG nucleotides each in the genetic code. The next step will be to mutate every gene to see which change will cause pathogenesis. This will give insight on this particular gene but will also be a point of reference for comparing other genomes of similar strains.

This unfolding of genomic sequencing is incredible and will be used as a point of reference and starting point for other strains similar to this. With this code, we can alter and see what can be added or deleted to fight against and make it more vulnerable to antibiotics. Millions of people every year are diagnosed with meningitis or pneumonia by inhaling airborne fungal spores. This is just the beginning of the fight against Cryptococcus neoforms. This fungus can be found in soil throughout the entire world.

Primary website: http://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/cryptococcosis-neoformans/

Secondary website: http://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/cryptococcosis-neoformans/

Labels: Cryptococcus neoform, fungus, genomic sequence, meningitis, pneumonia