Zombie bacteria have been created that could be used to make more stable vaccines.
Traditionally, vaccines use either “attenuated” live bacteria, grown in conditions that disable their virulent properties, or killed bacteria. Attenuated live vaccines promote a strong immune response, but can be difficult to store and transport safely, while killed bacteria don’t work as well in triggering immunity.
Now there could be a third option. Sandip Datta and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, irradiated live Listeria monocytogenes with gamma rays, breaking up their DNA so that they couldn’t reproduce, but leaving enough residual metabolic activity…
