Catapults aren’t just handy for besieging medieval castles. They can also help battle invading bacteria, scientists have learned.
In the bacteria-laden gastrointestinal tract, a type of white blood cell catapults its own mitochondrial DNA out of the cell, creating a tangled trap of DNA and proteins that snares enemy bacteria. The research, published online August 10 in Nature Medicine, reveals a new role for this type of blood cell and suggests doctors should be cautious about drug treatments that target the cells.
“This is a really crazy finding,” says study leader Hans-Uwe Simon of the University of Bern in Switzerland. “The DNA was expelled within one second — and this is against tissue pressure and fluids, not air.”