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Each time we The bacterium divides all of its DNA to be copied and produces a large amount of the four building blocks of DNA. The enzyme that produces them is called RNR. Because the RNR performs such a central response, it has been intensively studied for over 50 years.
In all organisms you studied – from humans to bacteria – it was necessary for RNR to bind to metal ions to fulfill its function. A strategy used by our immune system to protect us from bacterial infections is to limit their access to metals and to starve them.
– We have discovered a type of RNR enzymes in mycoplasma that do not need metals, says Vivek Srinivas, PhD student in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Stockholm University and one of the authors of the study.
In the study, the researchers showed that the RNR of mycoplasma bacteria, instead of metals, uses a modified amino acid containing an odd number of electrons, called radical, and thus becomes very reactive.
Many of them the bacteria bearing the RNR of the new species are responsible for diseases and colonize the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and genitals. It is possible that this way of making DNA building blocks has been developed to allow the bacteria to survive and divide into environments with extremely low access to metal ions.
"It's fascinating to see how evolution has resulted in an alternative chemical solution to this problem, something we did not think was possible without metals." It also means that there may be new ways to combat the bacteria that use this strategy, declares Martin Högbom, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Stockholm University, who led the project.
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