Bacterium that attacks plants points to cancer drugs too: study

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — The discovery of a new mechanism by which a known bacterium infects numerous plants could one day help uncover a new class of anti-cancer drugs for humans, according to a study released Wednesday.

Researchers looking at the single-cell animal that causes brown spot disease in common green beans isolated a molecule, called syringolin A, that boosts the bacterium's virulence and accounts for its ability to infect.

A genetically-modified form of the bacterium -- Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (Pss) --- in which the molecule was removed lost the capacity to attack the plants, confirming the pathogen's powers.

But what surprised lead scientist Robert Dudler of the Munich Technical University and his colleagues was how the offending molecule...