Posted on 01/27/2012 10:06:42 AM PST by null and void
Courtesy of the American Chemical Society
Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of anti-bacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections, scientists are reporting. Their research on amphibians so smelly (like rotten fish, for instance) that scientists term them “odorous frogs” appears in ACS’ Journal of Proteome Research and is titled “Extremely Abundant Antimicrobial Peptides Existed in the Skins of Nine Kinds of Chinese Odorous Frogs.”
Yun Zhang, Wen-Hui Lee and Xinwang Yang explain that scientists long have recognized frogs’ skin as a rich potential source of new antibiotics. Frogs live in warm, wet places where bacteria thrive and have adapted skin that secretes chemicals, known as peptides, to protect themselves from infections. Zhang’s group wanted to identify the specific antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), and the most potent to give scientists clues for developing new antibiotics.
They identified more than 700 of these substances from nine species of odorous frogs and concluded that the AMPs account for almost one-third of all AMPs found in the world, the greatest known diversity of these germ-killing chemicals. Interestingly, some of the AMPs have a dual action, killing bacteria directly and also activating the immune system to assist in the battle.
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Basic Research Program of China and The National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Stinky Frog...
I’m thinking of changing my freeper name...
frog in a pot will be jealous...
As a three time mrsa survivor, this is good news.
and don’t forget smoking frog
“Milton: We use only the finest baby frogs, dew picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope and lovingly frosted with glucose.
Praline: That’s as maybe, it’s still a frog.
Milton: What else?
Praline: Well don’t you even take the bones out?
Milton: If we took the bones out it wouldn’t be crunchy would it? “
Is this another article on the French lack of hygiene ?
Did someone call for the French?
Stinky Frog?
Is than anything like Crunchy Frog?
There's a solution...
I'm cool with it, I buy my underarm deodorant by the pallet at Sam's Club.
(Just between the three of us, having watched our nation's politics for the past 40 years, I believe we are all frogs in a pot.)
Feels more like a Jacuzzi...
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