Vaccines “cool before drinking”
Genes of Arctic bacteria will be used to create vaccinesCopper news
Canadian scientists have proposed using the genes of bacteria living in the Arctic climate to create new vaccines, reports New Scientist (Chilled genes are hot hope for new vaccines).
A new method of obtaining vaccines was developed by a group of specialists from the University of Victoria of Canada under the leadership of Francis Nano. A report on their development is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Essential genes from Arctic bacteria used to construct stable, temperature-sensitive bacterial vaccines).
By changing the genome of bacteria, the authors of the study tried to increase the sensitivity of microorganisms to temperature rise. To do this, scientists have replaced several genes that regulate vital functions in the pathogens of tularemia (Francisella tularensis) and Salmonella enterica (Salmonella enterica) with similar genes of bacteria living in the Arctic.
As a result of the replacement of nine genes, the researchers were able to obtain strains of pathogens that died at temperatures below those necessary for their normal development. By replacing three genes that are responsible for the production of an enzyme involved in DNA synthesis, the Nano group was able to grow pathogenic bacteria that died at temperatures of 33, 35 and 37 degrees Celsius.
After that, the scientists inoculated laboratory mice with a modified tularemia pathogen. The presence of microbes in the skin of rodents provided a protective response of the immune system. However, penetrating into the internal organs, the bacteria died due to an increase in the temperature of the environment. The mice vaccinated in this way survived after they were injected with a lethal dose of the usual pathogens of tularemia.
According to Francis Nano, a similar approach can be used to create vaccines against many other common infections. He added that at the next stage of their work, the researchers plan to use tuberculosis pathogens.
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