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Researchers explore evolution of anthrax spores
Infection Control Monitor, April 1, 2005
Scientists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and three other institutions are investigating how anthrax spores activate, Newswise reports.
In light of recent scares at two military mailroom facilities at which anthrax alarms went off, scientists believe learning specifically how spores evolve from the dormant stage into disease-causing bacterium may help defuse further incidents.
"Basic understanding of the regulatory signals that promote germination will enable discoveries leading to drugs that block the process," says Al Claiborne, PhD, co-director of Wake Forest's Center of Structural Biology.
The research team-which includes a co-investigator at Virginia Tech, and collaborators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the University of California, San Diego-is working with a non-pathogenic strain of anthrax, known as Bacillus anthracis, while also exploring the three-dimensional structures and the functions of the protein involved.
Researchers believe unlocking the secret of the structures may provide new details on how anthrax develops, and potentially will help identify structural weaknesses to help in the design of agents to prevent anthrax.
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