Trypanosoma brucei
gambiense belong to the protozoa they cause the
African sleeping sickness. They are usually found in tsetse flies. They
infect the human blood and cause headaches, disturbance with the sleep cycle,
swelling of the brain. It can eventually lead to death if it is not treated properly.
Scientists have recently been able to track tsetse flies that
are carrying the genome trypanosome and watch the protozoa cells mate.
Scientists dyed the cells with two different fluorescent colors green and red. They used the dyes to see what the cells were doing, they wrapped their flagella together to bring the cells closer together. In
the past it was thought that the cells simply divide in order to reproduce. Now
scientists are arguing that they also swap genes while they are reproducing.
Swapping genes allows them to make their DNA stronger and create new strains of
the disease. Some of these strains can resist certain antibiotics and are
harder to treat.
This new research will help scientists understand the Trypanosoma brucei gambiense cells better and will help them to create stronger
antibiotics. This research can also help in other areas of medicine because there
might be more pathogens that use sex to swap genes. Scientists will be able to
treat diseases easier and faster when they know how strong a pathogen will be.
I think this
research can be very useful because it is hard to track pathogens. This will
allow us to better understand their reproducing methods. We will be able to
defeat them easier and keep ourselves healthier. Microbial biology is a relatively
new science and it has taken us a few years to discover that we live symbiotically
with many microbes. It will take us a few years to fully appreciate this
science and what the tiny microorganisms can do for us.
When I first saw your blog, I thought to myself Trypanosoma br….. is a very long microbe (protozoa) name. That is probably why I didn’t want to fully spell it in my opening sentence. Anyways, I find your blog very interesting because once again microbes seem to surprise us! It seems as if every day new knowledge is found on microbes. This new finding is interesting because like you said it will help scientists understand the Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (copy and paste). It is also amazing that swapping genes can make their DNA stronger. This research is good because it will possibly help scientists and people in a big way. Like you said it would help them (scientists) to create stronger antibiotics and they will be able to treat diseases easier/faster. (When they know how strong a pathogen will be) These microorganisms seem to “do” something new every minute, or at least every day!
ReplyDelete-Angelo V.
Geez, I hope one of these flies does not come near me. Microbes and other microscopic organisms never fail to amaze me. It is insane that such a small thing can pack such a huge punch.
ReplyDeleteI also did my blog on this same article. I found it really interesting, it actually opened my eyes to the way I see microbes. I would have never have even guessed that microbes have sex, this just seems really weird and unlikely. I had always thought that they reproduced by dividing in half and creating two of them and so on. But to learn that microbes can have sex is crazy, also we recently learned about that microbes can talk to each other with chemicals. And that makes me wonder if all microbes are able to communicate and have sex the same way that these disease causing protozoa. This article left me with so many questions but also left me really interested in microbes because they are truly more than meets the eye.
ReplyDeleteEvery week these blogs just amaze me more and more. Its so cool to see that scientists can dye the protozoa to distinguish the two, and see how they mate. Swapping genes?! That's something I've never heard of before. I thought they all reproduced by division. This could be a breakthrough for scientists, to help track different pathogens and stop the reproduction of harmful microbes. Nice blog
ReplyDeleteHi, I am a PhD student in Dr. Northup's lab. Interesting article. Bacteria also have methods for exchanging genetic information, such as bacterial conjugation.
ReplyDelete