November 18, 2008
the mysterious case of the clumping proteins
Scientists stumbled recently upon the way bleach kills germs.
It seems that hypochlorous acid, the active ingredient in bleach, attacks proteins in bacteria, causing them to clump up much like an egg that has been boiled, a team at the University of Michigan reported in the journal Cell on Thursday.
The discovery, which may better explain how humans fight off infections, came quite by accident.
“As so often happens in science, we did not set out to address this question,” Ursula Jakob, who led the team, said in a statement.
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The researchers said the human immune system produces hypochlorous acid in response to infection but the substance does not kill only the bacterial invaders. It kills human cells too, which may explain how tissue is destroyed in chronic inflammation.
“Hypochlorous acid is an important part of host defense,” Jakob said. “It’s not just something we use on our countertops.”
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