396: Bacteria Boost Blood Bank Budgets

This episode: Bacterial enzymes could convert donated blood to be compatible with more people in need! Download Episode (8.0 MB, 11.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cucumber leaf spot virus News item Takeaways Blood transfusions using donated blood save many lives. Unfortunately, most donations can't be given to just anyone that needs blood; there must be a match in blood type between donor and recipient, or else a life-threatening reaction could occur in the recipient's body. So type A can't donate to type B, or vice versa, but type O is compatible with the other types. In this study, bacterial enzymes found in human gut microbes have the ability to cleave off the unique type A and B sugars on the surface of red blood cells. This could allow the conversion of all donated blood to type O, greatly increasing the blood bank supply, but more testing is needed to develop the process. Journal Paper: Rahfeld P, Sim L, Moon H, Constantinescu I, Morgan-Lang C, Hallam SJ, Kizhakkedathu JN, Withers SG. 2019. An enzymatic pathway in the human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood. Nat Microbiol 4:1475–1485. Other interesting stories: Interesting new protist has novel swimming stroke Quantum dot-microbe hybrids power conversion of carbon dioxide to useful stuff   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

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