2 mars 2013

A team of researchers at Université de Sherbrooke has discovered a new bacterial processing mechanism, representing a breakthrough that could one day be used to curb the production of infection-causing bacteria.

The research team proved that a cellular protein called RNase E is capable of neutralizing RNA, which is essential in protein production in organisms. This is an effective and definitive method for blocking the protein expression linked to bacterial infection.

The study by the Sherbrooke researchers was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature Reviews Microbiology.

The research team consists of professors Daniel Lafontaine at the Faculty of Science and Éric Massé at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, both of whom are researchers with the Centre de recherche clinique Étienne-Le Bel du CHUS (CRCELB clinical research centre), and graduate students Marie-Pier Caron, Laurène Bastet, Antony Lussier, and Maxime Simoneau-Roy.

The researchers will now turn their attention to confirming the gene regulatory mechanism in various bacterial species.

» Read article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

» Read article in Nature Reviews Microbiology

Source: Université de Sherbrooke