A STD Love Story: Gonorrhoea Takes A Piece Of Human DNA Forever

In the first instance of gene transfer between a human host and bacteria, Gonorrhoea was recently discovered to have a human DNA fragment. What the.. how the.. huh?

Supposedly, it’s a relatively recent evolutionary event and scientists have no idea what it means. And though it’s a pseudo love story between star crossed lovers, I’m actually scaring myself as I read more into it.

Scientists say:

The finding suggests gonorrhea’s ability to acquire DNA from its human host may enable it to develop new and different strains of itself. “But whether this particular event has provided an advantage for the gonorrhea bacterium, we don’t know yet, ” Seifert said, “The next step is to figure out what this piece of DNA is doing,”

It’s like an organic terminator, learning from our sexual habits and then striking when we have the babies. Gonorrhoea just got a lot uncooler (not that it was ever cool). [Science Daily]