{"id":530,"date":"2008-04-07T06:38:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-07T10:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=530"},"modified":"2008-08-06T21:00:38","modified_gmt":"2008-08-07T01:00:38","slug":"an-alligator-could-save-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=530","title":{"rendered":"An alligator could save your life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting article in the Palm Beach Post: Gator blood touted as potential source of lifesaving drugs<\/a><\/p>\n

Researchers in Louisiana say they’ve discovered unique antibiotic proteins in the blood of American alligators that can kill a wide variety of deadly bacteria, halt the spread of common infections and perhaps even stop HIV.<\/p>\n

If they’re right and they’re able to sequence the genetics of gator blood, the researchers say superdrugs based on their findings might be available within 10 years.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Lancia Darville, a Louisiana State University researcher who is scheduled to present the findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans this week.<\/p>\n

The alligator has developed a special immune system during its long evolution, Darville said.<\/p>\n

“If you think about alligators, they usually get into a lot of fights and get cuts and bruises and torn limbs, and they live in swamps that have a whole lot of bacteria,” she said. “But even in the presence of all that bacteria, they (almost) never get any infections.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting article in the Palm Beach Post: Gator blood touted as potential source of lifesaving drugs Researchers in Louisiana say they’ve discovered unique antibiotic proteins in the blood of American alligators that can kill a wide variety of deadly bacteria, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-8y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=703","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":0},"title":"Flightless bird evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Research on evolution is happening right here in Florida's very own universities. Who could have ever guessed? The University of Florida proudly touted some recent research into the evolution of flightless birds. GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Large flightless birds of the southern continents \u00e2\u20ac\u201c African ostriches, Australian emus and cassowaries, South\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":869,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=869","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":1},"title":"What they’re saying in Louisiana","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought y'all would like to read what folks are saying about the mess oozing around in Louisiana. Times-Picayune columnist James Gill writes about the classroom crusade. The purported purpose is to prevent \"censorship\" and allow teachers to introduce materials in addition to prescribed textbooks. The act contains the obligatory\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=869#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1382,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1382","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":2},"title":"Vandals story in paper","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Independent Alligator newspaper has now published a story about the vandals who have been striking pro-evolution displays on cars. This time the victims were named and quoted. 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We need to let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Critical Analysis\" bills '11"","block_context":{"text":"\"Critical Analysis\" bills '11","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=29"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":636,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=636","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":4},"title":"New Evidence For Evolutionary Link Between Single-celled And Multi-celled Organisms","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"July 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0What do humans and single-celled choanoflagellates have in common? More than you'd think. 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