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Genetic tweak turned plague bacterium deadly

Mutation in newly acquired gene transformed Yersinia pestis into a mass killer

Yersinia pestis bacteria

TINY KILLERS  Acquiring one gene and one mutation allowed these plague bacteria, Yersinia pestis (shown in yellow in a flea’s digestive system in this colored scanning electron micrograph), to cause deadly pandemics. 

NIAID

By Sarah Schwartz

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