A recent study has revealed a mysterious family of microbial proteins that can hijack the molecular machinery of our cells to spread throughout the body. The discovery represents an entirely new way for microbes to spread their genetic material and may eventually lead to new treatments for infectious diseases. The new proteins, called ‘hijackers’, were discovered by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and published in the journal Nature Communications. The team identified two distinct types of hijackers: one that targets the cell’s internal machinery to replicate itself, and another that hijacks the cell’s external communication systems to spread to other cells. The study suggests that these proteins could play a role in the spread of infectious diseases, as well as how some viruses are able to survive in the body for extended periods of time.

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source: Phys.org