Key pathological mechanism found in plague bacterium

from Umeå University - A more than 50-year-old question has now been answered. Chemists and microbiologists at the Biological Chemistry Center at Umeå University in Sweden are now able to describe in detail the role of calcium in the ability of the plague bacterium Yersinias to cause disease. In the 14th century, the Black Death claimed the lives of one third of the population of Europe. Even though the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which causes the disease, is regarded as eradicated in Europe, the World Health Organization is still reporting epidemics in Africa, Asia, and America. Bacteria in the Yersinia family can also lead to severe gastrointestinal diseases and diarrheas. A key question that originated in research done in the 1950s is how calcium can play a critical role in the ability of Yersinia to cause disease. This long-lived issue has now been resolved by an interdisciplinary research team at Umeå University who are revealing the molecular mechanism underlying the importance of calcium.