IRON EATING BACTERIA CAN EAT ELECTRICITY INSTEAD

         

         Scientist have developed a way to grow iron oxidizing bacteria using electricity instead of iron, an advance that will allow them to better study the organism and could one day be used to turn electricity into fuel. The study will be published in mBio.


         The method, called electrochemical cultivation, supplies these bacteria with a steady supply of electrons that the bacteria use to respire or 'breathe'. It opens the possibility that one day electricity generated from the sources like wind or solar could be funneled to iron oxidising bacteria that combine it with carbon dioxide to create biofuels, capturing the energy as a useful, storable substances.


          "Its a new way to cultivate a microorganism that's been difficult to study. But the fact that these organisms can synthesize everything they need using only electricity," says Daniel Bond of the University of Minnesota.


           To 'breathe', iron oxidisers take electrons off of dissolved iron, called Fe (II) - a process that produces copious amounts of rust, called Fe (III). Iron oxidising bacteria are found around world. Scientist think these bacteria must carry out the iron oxidation step on their surfaces. If that's true, Bond reasoned, the outsides of the organisms should be covered with proteins that interact with Fe (II), so you should be able provide a stream of pure electrons to the outsides and get them to grow.


            Bond and his colleagues added the marine iron oxidiser Mariprofundus ferrooxydans PV -1, along with some nutrient medium, to an electrode carefully tuned to provide electrons at the same energy level, or potential, as Fe (II) would provide. The idea, says Bond, was to "fool the bacteria into thinking they're at the world's best buffet of Fe (II) atoms."


            It worked. The bacteria multiplied and formed a film on the electrode, Bond says, and eventually they were able to grow M ferrooxydans with no iron in the medium.


            "Bacteria are experts at the capture of carbon dioxide. They build cells and compounds" with the carbon, he says. They might one day be exploited as microscopic energy packagers : Bacteria like M ferrooxydans could capture electricity from an electrode, combine it with carbon dioxide and package it as a carbon rich compound we could use as fuel.

Article from MUMBAI MIRROR NEWSPAPER

AUSTRALIAN EXPERTS OFFER HOPE FOR AIDS CURE

Tweaking Virus Protein Can Shield Cells From Contracting HIV Infection

          In a break through, Australian researchers claim to have discovered how to modify a protein in Human Deficiency Virus ( HIV) which could lead to a potential cure for Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

         According to researcher David Harrich from Queensland Institute of Medical Research, the protein can be modified so that instead of replicating, it protects against the deadly infection.

          "I consider that this is fighting fire with fire. What we've actually done is taken a normal virus protein that the virus needs to grow, and we've changed this protein, so that instead of assisting the virus, it actually impedes virus replication and does it quite strongly," Harrich said.

         He added that modified protein cannot cure HIV but it has protected human cells from AIDS in the laboratory.

       "This is therapy is potentially a cure for AIDS. So it's not a cure for HIV infection, but it potentially could end the disease," he said. Over 30,000 people have been diagnosed with HIV in Australia.

        If clinical trails are successful  one treatment could be effective enough to replace the multiple therapies they currently need.

        "Drug therapy targets individual enzymes or proteins and they have one drug, one protein. He added that they have to take two or three drugs, so this would be a single agent that essentially has the same effect. "So in that respect, this is world first agent at multiple steps of the virus life cycle," he added.

      He said that the new treatment has the potential to make big improvements in the quality of life for those carrying HIV. "I think what people are looking for is basically a means to go on and lives with as little intrusion as possible. You either have to eliminate the virus infection or alternatively you have to eliminate the disease process and that's what this could do, potentially for a very long time, Harrich said.

     Harrich added that animal rials are due to start this year and early indications are positive.