Your gut microbiome can convert A and B blood types into the universal type O

in #steemstem6 years ago (edited)

Your gut microbiome can convert A and B blood types into the universal type O.


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CC0 Creative Commons

Another fascinating thing our gut bacteria do...

Within the ABO blood group system, you are either type A, B, AB or O depending on the nature of the antigen present on your red blood cells.

Recently at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (1) researches presented work that show they have identified enzymes from the human gut microbiome that can convert type A or B blood into type O. The enzymes recognize and cleave the A and B antigens on red blood cells (simple sugars).

The researchers hope that one day these enzymes could be used to convert type A or B blood into universal donor Type O blood in emergency situations. Type O blood donors are universal donors because their blood does not have the A or B antigens and when given to a recipient it will not be seen as a foreign antigen and therefore not cause a immune response.

The research was done at the University of British Columbia Canada, headed by professor Stephen Withers.

Sources:
(1 )Withers S et al. Discovery of CAZYmes for cell surface glycan removal through metagenomics: towards universal blood. Presented at: the 256th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, Boston, MA, USA, 19–23
Link to the abstract

You can watch a YouTube video of the research here:

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Hey rcebike,

could this be dangerous for humans somehow. For instance by changing the whole blood type. I never heard things like this before. But the imagination is somehow creepy.

Best regards

Hey @chappertron
sorry for the late reply as I was away up north for a week without internet. I don't think the gut bacteria will change the blood type of the person per se but the researchers want to utilize the the enzymes produced by these bacteria to convert A or B blood to O and then use this converted blood as donor blood.
cheers!