Nerdy Science Blog

One of the deadliest pandemics in human history is the Black Death a.k.a. Black Plague, which is highly suspected to be caused by Yersinia pestis bacterium.  Although Influenza has been thought to be the next pandemic, scientists found that the next pandemic could be caused by rats.

A paper will be published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggesting the biggest and most common rats in Europe, the brown rats, may carry bacteria that cause the 21st century plague.

Bartonella bacteria are zoonotic pathogens that can cause serious illness in humans worldwide, such as heart disease, and spleen and nervous system infection.  The new species of Bartonella bacteria, Bartonella rochalimae, was discovered and identified to cause spleen infection led the scientists to study this bacteria species in rodents.  It is discovered that rats carry several pathogenic species of Bartonella, for example B. elizabethae and B. grahamii, and B. tribocorum.  A new strain which is closely related to B. rochalimae was found in rats.  The infections can be transmitted by fleas.

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“Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” (2006) directed by Tom Tykwer was a really nice movie.  The story was about a man born with superior olfactory sense tried to preserve the finest smell as perfume, and ultimately he turned to the dark side to achieve his goal.

In the movie, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille the perfumer source of finest perfume was young females.  Scientists also found a way to create perfume, however it is not from women, but tropical Vetiver grass.  The root bacteria of the tropical grass were found having the ability to promote the production of essential oils in the oil-producing cells.  The bacteria are also able to change the molecular structure of the oil, hence changing oil’s flavours and properties (termicidal, insecticidal, antimicrobial and antioxidant).  The researchers involved in this study were the microbiologists Pietro Alifano and Luigi Del Giudice, the plant biologist Massimo Maffei and their colleagues.

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If you are a vegetarian, the following news might be useless to you.

Scientists from University of Adelaide discovered a bacterium cause disease among meat lovers.  The discovery led by microbiologists Dr Adrienne Paton and Professor James Paton was published in Nature on 30 October.

E. coli bacteria will release Subtilase cytotoxin, a potent bacterial toxin, to target Neu5Gc sugar on cell surface.  This will cause bloody diarrhoea and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) in humans.  However human does no make Neu5Gc naturally, and we the toxin release by the bateria should do us no harm.  The secret to the triumph of the bacterium is because we eat too much meat and fairy products.  While we are creating more carbon emmission by eating the food we love, we also uptake Neu5Gc sugar which is rich in these food into our body.  Scientist emphasized that it is important to eat well-cooked meat and pasteurised dairy products as the bacteria are killed in these food products.

Other researchers involved in this study included scientists from Monash University, the University of California and Emory University.

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A Syracuse University research team discovered the gene that helps bacteria to suck iron from human host or environment efficiently to survive.  The discovery by the research team led by Robert Doyle, assistant professor of chemistry in The College of Arts and Sciences, was from the study of Streptomyces coelicolor.  Streptomyces coelicolor is closely related to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.  The discovery of the gene that enables iron uptake from the environment could lead researchers in the battle of tuberculosis.  The research paper will be published in August issue (volume 190, issue 16) of the Journal of Bacteriology.

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