Structure: a new discovery of antiviral mechanism of bacteria

December 3, 2019 / biourn / -- recently, a study led by the University of new Arizona has revealed the structure and function of one of the latest strategies for bacteria to fight against viruses: a "fleet" of highly organized enzymes that can provide rapid immune response and quickly fragment the harmful DNA of virus invaders The results were published in the latest journal structure Www Pixabay Com) enzymes are proteins in living cells that accelerate chemical reactions Some enzymes can take on many shapes, each with different functions, and switch between them In this case, a specific enzyme, sgrai, slowly cuts invasive DNA through deformation However, when many of these enzymes connect and wrap around a certain length of DNA, they will form a filament, increasing the DNA cutting ability by 200 times "The sgrai enzyme contains two metal atoms that must be placed next to where the DNA is going to be cut," said author Horton The non filamentary enzyme structure places one of the two metal atoms in the wrong place In the filament structure, we see a change in the shape of the enzyme, pushing that atom to the right place " Fast immune responses are important because viruses that attack bacteria (called phages) inject their own genetic material into bacterial cells After entry, phage genetic material hijacks the replication mechanism of bacteria to complete self replication Eventually, the newly synthesized virus erupts from the captured cells and infects other bacteria "Before we can fix them, we have to understand how they work," Horton said There are many other medically important enzymes that use this mechanism When they don't work, they can lead to cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and other diseases, which is the basis of cell biology " Source of information: once hidden cell structures emerge in fight against viruses original source: smarajit Polley, Dmitry lyumkis, Nancy C Horton Mechanism of decoration induced allosteric activation of the sgrai endonuclease Structure, 2019; 27 (10): 1497 doi: 10.1016/j.str.2019.08.001