Month: September 2022

CODE WRITERS, HACKERS and other IT experts would do well to study carefully the creative and diverse ways of stray code in living systems such as mobile genetic elements. Art imitates life, as most of the biomimicy community will tell you. Never more true in the intimate parallels of the possibilities of informational code. View in LinkedIn

THIS DETAILED JOURNEY into mobile genetic elements is designed for a purpose, as it will be a Trojan Horse into a big and important topic that is too hot for most academics to touch. Careers can incinerate in this theme. But I have nothing to loose. And the topic deserves serious treatment. Softly, softly. View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE this weekend deals with pathogen iron piracy from the host during illnesses. Iron is a rate-limiting metal for pathogen growth, and pathogen hosts have figured out elaborate methods to try and limit access to this metal by pathogens, who in turn have been equally creative in finding ways to steal this critical commodity. View in LinkedIn

LOW BLOOD IRON. "The induction of hypoferremia by inflammation is commonly seen in many infectious diseases." Infection leads to a defensive inflammatory response by rapidly releasing cytokines. Equally, many inflammatory diseases can cause low blood iron ("anemia of chronic and inflammatory diseases"). https://lnkd.in/eyMxbBN View in LinkedIn

CYTOKINE SPIKE. "Anemia of chronic disease is immune driven; cytokines and cells of the reticuloendothelial system induce changes in iron homeostasis, the proliferation of erythroid progenitor cells, the production of erythropoietin, and the life span of red cells, all of which contribute to the pathogenesis of anemia." https://lnkd.in/eR97PqF View in LinkedIn

BLOOD IRON during a mock infection in humans drops very significantly in the first 24 hours, while hepticidin, an acute-phase protein, and inflammatory cytokines, react by sharply increasing in the same timeframe. Lovely time course charts. https://lnkd.in/eyMxbBN View in LinkedIn

OBLIGATE IRON. "Iron is a vital nutrient for virtually all forms of life. The requirement for iron is based on its role in cellular processes ranging from energy generation and DNA replication to oxygen transport and protection against oxidative stress. Bacterial pathogens are not exempt from this iron requirement, as these organisms must acquire iron within their vertebrate hosts in order to replicate and cause disease." https://lnkd.in/epJAeXg View in LinkedIn

IRON CONTROL IS DECISIVE. "The control over iron homeostasis is decisive in host–pathogen interaction...These multiple functional aspects of iron are based on its ability to transfer electrons needed during metabolic processes and to catalyze the formation of highly reactive radicals." https://lnkd.in/eBzy3XB View in LinkedIn

HOARDING IRON. "Vertebrates sequester iron from invading pathogens, and conversely, pathogens express a variety of factors to steal iron from the host. Recent work has demonstrated that in addition to iron, vertebrates sequester zinc and manganese both intracellularly and extracellularly to protect against infection." https://lnkd.in/eUkYnw9 View in LinkedIn

IRON, ZINC, MANGANESE -- are they keys to fighting infections and inflammatory diseases, and if so, how? http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1367593109001847 View in LinkedIn