When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

18 October 2006

"Grammar-based" peptide fights bacteria

As a language geek, I can't tell you how much I dig this story:

Using grammar rules alongside test tubes, biologists may have found a promising new way to fight nasty bacteria, including drug-resistant microbes and anthrax.

Studying a potent type of bacteria-fighters found in nature, called antimicrobial peptides, biologists found that they seemed to follow rules of order and placement that are similar to simple grammar laws. Using those new grammar-like rules for how these antimicrobial peptides work, scientists created 40 new artificial bacteria-fighters.

Nearly half of those new germ-fighters vanquished a variety of bacteria and two of them beat anthrax, according to a paper in Thursday's journal Nature.

Grammar-based peptide fights bacteria - Yahoo! News

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