Researchers have found microbes in the deep sea that are completely invisible to the human immune system, a somewhat unnerving discovery that suggests our bodies’ seemingly universal ability to recognize bacteria isn’t so all-inclusive.
[…] “This finding calls into question the dogma of pattern recognition receptors recognizing broadly conserved microbial components such as lipopolysaccharide,” Alison Scott, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland who was not affiliated with the recent paper, wrote in an email. Scott said that the variety of lipopolysaccharides found in the deep sea is a reminder that scientists need to better understand how our immune systems go about identifying bacterial threats.
Read the full article: ‘Invisible’ Deep-Sea Bacteria Cause Researchers to Rethink Human Immune Systems (gizmodo.com) (also credit for the featured image of this post)
Author: Isaac Schultz