Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
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Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
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Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#2Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#3> "Blood types are differentiated by the kinds of sugar found on the surface of red blood cells. Type O has no sugars. Scientists had realized that some (gut) enzymes can remove the sugars from A, B and AB blood cells, turning them into Type O"
A superbly concise overview taken from another news article.
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#4I'm not very strong on biology, but does this mean, potentially, all blood can be converted to universal donor blood? That would be truly revolutionary.
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#5Great timing of this article given that tomorrow (Jun 14) is World Blood Donor Day.
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#6I'm not very strong on biology, but does this mean, potentially, all blood can be converted to universal donor blood? That would be truly revolutionary.
The discovery only touches the ABO group system. While the ABO group system is the most important one, there are over 36 blood group systems. The Rh blood group system is important, too: If a Rh(D) negative person gets Rh(D) positive blood for the first time, it works but they can develop antibodies for it and if they get such blood a second time, they can get major issues.
In fact, there are more people (and thus potential donors) with type O blood than there are people with Rh negative blood.
Conversion of type A and B to type O blood is a key step, but it alone doesn't enable creation of fully universal donor blood (yet).
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_blood_group_systems
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#7I'm not very strong on biology, but does this mean, potentially, all blood can be converted to universal donor blood? That would be truly revolutionary.
The discovery only touches the ABO group system. While the ABO group system is the most important one, there are over 36 blood group systems. The Rh blood group system is important, too: If a Rh(D) negative person gets Rh(D) positive blood for the first time, it works but they can develop antibodies for it and if they get such blood a second time, they can get major issues. In fact, there are more people (and thus po…
It would still massively increase emergency storage, though.
Just that would be a major management improvement!
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#8Red Cross has an amazingly informative site on blood type:
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#9I'm not very strong on biology, but does this mean, potentially, all blood can be converted to universal donor blood? That would be truly revolutionary.
The discovery only touches the ABO group system. While the ABO group system is the most important one, there are over 36 blood group systems. The Rh blood group system is important, too: If a Rh(D) negative person gets Rh(D) positive blood for the first time, it works but they can develop antibodies for it and if they get such blood a second time, they can get major issues. In fact, there are more people (and thus po…
How much more valuable is O- blood donation than your typical donation?
Curious because some writers suggest it's probably better to work and donate the proceeds than take the time to donate blood but they didn't go specifically into my blood type(O-).
Re: Enzyme pathway in human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood
#10I wonder if this is to allow safe digestion/absorption of blood types that might otherwise cause rejection problems.