You might not know this, but your body produces a whole bunch of antibacterial compounds, one of which is lactoferrin. It's found in breast milk and mucosal substances such as tears and saliva. Lactoferrin hasn't really been investigated as a medical antibiotic because many disease-causing bacteria (e.g., E. coli) also live on (and in) people as harmless commensals, and consequently, have evolved resistance to lactoferrin. However, a new paper suggests that some lactoferrin might kill these pathogens.
The authors found that people with a single amino acid change in lactoferrin "were more likely to develop traveler's diarrhea (67% vs. 33%; relative risk [RR], 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.7; P<.001 to="" have="" diarrhea="" with="" a="" pathogen="" identified="" ci="" p=".03)," and="" marker="" of="" intestinal="" inflammation="" in="" stool="" specimens="" mucus="" or="" white="" blood="" cells="" vs.="" what="" particularly="" interesting="" is="" that="" this="" effect="" found="" only="" for="" women="" not="" men.="" i="" no="" idea="" why="" would="" be="" but="" the="" authors="" suggest="" it="" relate="" fact="" lactoferrin="" expression="" regulated="" differently="" females="" than="" males="" owning="" well-characterized="" estrogen-responsive="" elements="" dna="" sequence="" means="" they="" don="" really="" know="" either="">
It's pretty amazing that one itty-bitty nucleotide change can do all that. It will interesting to see how this polymorphism maps onto North American populations. Hopefully, someone is also going to do some good population genetics and look for selection at this gene.
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See? Everything important involves transition metals! ;-)