Filming How Our Immune System Kills Bacteria (phys.org) 29
hooligun shares a report from Phys.Org: To kill bacteria in the blood, our immune system relies on nanomachines that can open deadly holes in their targets. UCL scientists have now filmed these nanomachines in action, discovering a key bottleneck in the process which helps to protect our own cells. [...] For this study, the researchers mimicked how these deadly holes are formed by the membrane attack complex (MAC) using a model bacterial surface. By tracking each step of the process, they found that shortly after each hole started to form, the process stalled, offering a reprieve for the body's own cells. The team say the process pauses as 18 copies of the same protein are needed to complete a hole. Initially, there's only one copy which inserts into the bacterial surface, after which the other copies of the protein slot into place much more rapidly.
To film the immune system in action at nanometer resolution and at a few seconds per frame, the scientists used atomic force microscopy. This type of microscopy uses an ultrafine needle to feel rather than see molecules on a surface, similar to a blind person reading Braille. The needle repeatedly scans the surface to produce an image that refreshes fast enough to track how immune proteins get together and cut into the bacterial surface. The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
To film the immune system in action at nanometer resolution and at a few seconds per frame, the scientists used atomic force microscopy. This type of microscopy uses an ultrafine needle to feel rather than see molecules on a surface, similar to a blind person reading Braille. The needle repeatedly scans the surface to produce an image that refreshes fast enough to track how immune proteins get together and cut into the bacterial surface. The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone should do something about those artificial constructs that surround and murder the body's guests, instead of making them welcome, celebrating their differences and helping them integrate in the body's systems.
Such reactionary actions should not go unpunished. Does anyone know what can be done to prevent those White cells from oppressing everyone they do not like?
Lets get together and devise a way in which E.Coli, incertae sedis and Red cells can peacefully coexist! Down with the White cell bigotry
Re: (Score:2)
I see you are a man of culture.
Another wasted opportunity. (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, Slashdot, get with it! This could have been your headline!
Scientists Invent Nano Snuff Films
already seen it 30 years ago (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Cell videos (Score:5, Interesting)
It's easy to see how someday nano-machines could be a reality: because they already are.