Martel Jan, Young John Ding-E
Department of Biochemistry and Cellular Molecular Biology, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hua First Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Apr 8;105(14):5549-54. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0711744105. Epub 2008 Apr 2.
Recent evidence suggests a role for nanobacteria in a growing number of human diseases, including renal stone formation, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. This large body of research studies promotes the view that nanobacteria are not only alive but that they are associated with disease pathogenesis. However, it is still unclear whether they represent novel life forms, overlooked nanometer-size bacteria, or some other primitive self-replicating microorganisms. Here, we report that CaCO(3) precipitates prepared in vitro are remarkably similar to purported nanobacteria in terms of their uniformly sized, membrane-delineated vesicular shapes, with cellular division-like formations and aggregations in the form of colonies. The gradual appearance of nanobacteria-like particles in incubated human serum as well as the changes seen with their size and shape can be influenced and explained by introducing varying levels of CO(2) and NaHCO(3) as well as other conditions known to influence the precipitation of CaCO(3). Western blotting reveals that the monoclonal antibodies, claimed to be specific for nanobacteria, react in fact with serum albumin. Furthermore, nanobacteria-like particles obtained from human blood are able to withstand high doses of gamma-irradiation up to 30 kGy, and no bacterial DNA is found by performing broad-range PCR amplifications. Collectively, our results provide a more plausible abiotic explanation for the unusual properties of purported nanobacteria.
最近的证据表明，纳米细菌在越来越多的人类疾病中发挥作用，包括肾结石形成、心血管疾病和癌症。大量的研究促使人们认为纳米细菌不仅是有生命的，而且与疾病发病机制有关。然而，它们是代表新的生命形式、被忽视的纳米级细菌，还是其他一些原始的自我复制微生物，目前仍不清楚。在此，我们报告，体外制备的碳酸钙沉淀物在大小均匀、有膜界定的囊泡形状方面与所谓的纳米细菌非常相似，具有类似细胞分裂的结构以及菌落形式的聚集。通过引入不同水平的二氧化碳和碳酸氢钠以及其他已知影响碳酸钙沉淀的条件，可以影响并解释在孵育的人血清中逐渐出现的类似纳米细菌的颗粒及其大小和形状的变化。蛋白质印迹法显示，声称对纳米细菌具有特异性的单克隆抗体实际上与血清白蛋白发生反应。此外，从人血液中获得的类似纳米细菌的颗粒能够承受高达30千戈瑞的高剂量伽马辐射，通过进行广泛的聚合酶链反应扩增未发现细菌DNA。总体而言，我们的结果为所谓纳米细菌的异常特性提供了一个更合理的非生物解释。
