• Question: what is the most intresting thing yo

    Asked by jessymoo to MarkF on 14 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Mark Fogg

      Mark Fogg answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Do you want to finish the question??
      😉

Comments

  • Photo: jessymoo

    jessymoo commented on :

    okey, silly me. what is the most intresting thing you have learnt since being a scientist ?

  • Photo: MarkF

    MarkF commented on :

    Ho Jessymoo, sorry it’s taken so long to reply, the number of questions we’ve had has been overwhelming.
    The most interesting thing I have learned from my work is how bacteria regulate the expression of their genes in response to their environment. What bacteria use as a food source determines which particular set of genes is switched on or off at any one time. I’m sure you know that genes are what determine every aspect of what a living organism looks like and, to a certain extent, what it does; bacteria are no exception.
    The product of genes are proteins and it is the proteins that control how a bacteria reacts to its environment. Not only does my work help determine which proteins are doing what job at any particular time, we also determine what the proteins look like in 3D. It’s fascinating every time we’ve finished working out this 3D structure of protein, you can often see very clearly how it does it’s job. When you know what it a protein does, it is then possible to assess whether there are any drugs that could interfere with it and, hopefully, in so doing, kill the bug.