Despite legends to the contrary, it appears that the saliva of a Komodo dragon is not teeming with pathogenic bacteria that kills their prey. Its reputation to survive while colonized with lots of horrible disease-causing bacteria, true or untrue, has made it the subject of research in pursuit of natural antimicrobial agents and led scientists to some remarkable findings. According to two new research studies led by biochemists Barney Bishop and Monique van Hoek from the College of Science at George Mason University, their blood contains antimicrobial proteins that help them resist deadly infections and may be of potential use to us, too. Compounds in Dragon Blood Showed Antibacterial ActivityIn one study by the team, published in the Journal of Proteome Research, they used a type of bioprospecting — the search for medicinal drugs and other compounds from natural sources — to look for antibacterial compounds in the blood of Komodo dragons. Don’t Miss: Ants Create Chemical Cocktails to…more