By Bill Hathaway
July 15, 2021
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(Illustration by Michael S. Helfenbein)
In recent years, scientists have discovered that non-immune system cells are surprisingly well armed to combat infection. Yale researchers have found a particularly powerful weapon in these cells’ arsenal a protein that acts like a detergent to wipe out invading pathogens much like the way that Ajax cleans dirty dishes or sanitizes a kitchen countertop.
This intracellular cleanser, the researchers say, dissolves membranes of invading bacteria that have replicated in the cytosol, the watery interior of cells. Importantly, the detergent-like immune protein does not harm the membranes of organelles belonging to the host cell, they report July 16 in the journal Science.
Fungi that live in the gut influence health and disease
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Fungi that live in the gut influence health and disease
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