Colwellia psychrerythraea neu2011: Difference between revisions
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==Classification== | ==Classification== | ||
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Colwellia psychrerythraea is a promising bacterium for the development of temperature-sensitive strains of vaccines. Researchers at the University of Victoria in Canada have successfully isolated several essential genes from Colwellia psychrerythraea and implanted them into the human pathogen Francisella novicida. Since the enzymes of Colwellia psychrerythraea can only function at temperatures up to 20C, this modified pathogen could then be implanted into cooler parts of the body to allow for an immune response to occur. Indeed, when Francisella novicida was implanted into the tail of labs rats, it was able to thrive locally and elicit an immune response within the rat, but was unable to spread to warmer body parts due to the temperature-sensitivity of Colwellia psychrerythraea enzymes. Upon dosing these same rats with normal Francisella novicida several weeks later, the rats remained healthy, providing evidence that temperature-sensitive vaccines could provide a useful therapy for combating a vast variety of future illnesses. | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 19:12, 21 February 2011
Classification
Higher order taxa
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Proteobacteria
Class: Gammaproteobacteria
Order: Alteromonadales
Family: Colwelliaceae
Genus: Colwellia
Species: Colwellia psychrerythraea
Description and Significance
Genome Structure
Cell Structure and Metabolism
Ecology
Pathology
Current Research
Cool Factor
Colwellia psychrerythraea is a promising bacterium for the development of temperature-sensitive strains of vaccines. Researchers at the University of Victoria in Canada have successfully isolated several essential genes from Colwellia psychrerythraea and implanted them into the human pathogen Francisella novicida. Since the enzymes of Colwellia psychrerythraea can only function at temperatures up to 20C, this modified pathogen could then be implanted into cooler parts of the body to allow for an immune response to occur. Indeed, when Francisella novicida was implanted into the tail of labs rats, it was able to thrive locally and elicit an immune response within the rat, but was unable to spread to warmer body parts due to the temperature-sensitivity of Colwellia psychrerythraea enzymes. Upon dosing these same rats with normal Francisella novicida several weeks later, the rats remained healthy, providing evidence that temperature-sensitive vaccines could provide a useful therapy for combating a vast variety of future illnesses.
