Primordial Proteins and HIVPart II

Abstract

Nanobacteria are suspected to be responsible for a number of diseases, i.e., kidney stones, heart disease, ovarian cancer, peripheral neuropathy, and reduced bone mineral density. Being protected by a mineral shell consisting of apatite, the nanovesicles can enter eukaryotic cells. Depending on the host's stress level, nanobacteria may carry a substantial layer of a protein based slime, instrumental in collecting calcium phosphate from the environment. Calcium phosphate is known to mediate the uptake of nucleic acids by eukaryotic cells. Surprisingly, a pathogenic effect of nanobacteria in HIV can be derived primarily from the trafficking of calcium phosphate in HIV infected cells, performed by primordial proteins. The inescapable conclusion is that nanobacteria could promote genetic diversity in HIV.

Proteobionics: Biomimetics in Proteomics

“…Concurrently, it would prevent NB from entering the nucleus of an infected cell immediately after attachment to its nuclear membrane. Results of cross contamination experiments conducted with NB isolated in animals and in vitro, suggested indeed that a thicker PP film prevented NB from entering 3T6 cells …”

“…NB infections have been suspected to contribute to an increase in the genetic diversity of the HIV-virus by acting as natural transfection vectors in HIV-infected CD-4 cells . The predominant mode of transfection in our model is across the nuclear membrane, with calcium phosphate stored in the slime envelope as mediator . Prior to contacting the nuclear membrane, invading NB must pass the cell membrane and the cytoplasm.…”

“…In humans, natural transfection of cells can occur, where NB loads are sufficiently high. Natural transfection could be presently restricted to the African continent, with increasing HIV-infections associated with possibly very high levels of NB, resulting inevitably in a progressive excretion and uptake of viable NB. , In exemplary twin-infections with coincident high intracellular levels of HIV and NB, calcium phosphate mediated transfection of CD-4 cells with HIV-DNA could occur exponentially.…”

“…We introduced biomimetics into the field of proteomics on the basis of nanobacteria (NB) and the primordial proteins (PP) synthesized by them . Analysis of the functions and properties of the PP turned out to be extremely fruitful and led to an extensive catalog of protein modifications, as response patterns to environmental changes, which provided a synoptic view of possible evolutionary implications of early proteins . Proteomic technologies have already proven useful to study the response of bacterial cells to conditions of environmental stress .…”

“…Indeed, slime-free NB could be virtually invisible to the immune defense. Here, we study details of three distinct processes, thought to be relevant in the transfection of eukaryotic cells with nucleic acids, discussed by us in the lymphocyte model . The first is transport of NB (bare or masked with PP) across the cell membrane, the second diffusion through the cytoplasm, and the third attachment to the nuclear membrane.…”