FtsZ is a protein encoded by the ftsZ gene that assembles into a ring at the future site of the septum of bacterial cell division. This is a prokaryotic homologue to the eukaryotic protein tubulin. FtsZ has been named after "Filamenting temperature-sensitive mutant Z". The hypothesis was that cell division mutants of E. coli would grow as filaments due to the inability of the daughter cells to separate from one another.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis FtsZ requires at least one arginine residue at the C-terminal end for polymerization in vitro. Inhibitors of FtsZ de-polymerization have antibacterial activity.

Tuberculosis (MTB, TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections do not have symptoms, known as latent tuberculosis. About 10% of latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills about half of those infected. The classic symptoms of active TB are a chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. This weight loss was what gave rise to the old term "consumption" for the disease. Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms.

Tuberculosis is spread through the air when people who have active TB in their lungs cough, spit, speak, or sneeze. People with latent TB do not spread the disease. Active infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and in those who smoke. Diagnosis of active TB is based on chest X-rays, as well as microscopic examination and culture of body fluids. Diagnosis of latent TB relies on the tuberculin skin test (TST) or blood tests.

Tuberculosis may infect any part of the body, but most commonly occurs in the lungs (known as pulmonary tuberculosis). Extra-pulmonary TB occurs when tuberculosis develops outside of the lungs, although extra pulmonary TB may coexist with pulmonary TB.

General signs and symptoms include fever, chills, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss, and fatigue. Significant nail clubbing may also occur.

Piperine, an organic compound classed either with the lipid family (a group consisting of fats and fatlike substances) or with the alkaloids, a family of nitrogenous compounds with marked physiological properties. It is one of the sharp-tasting constituents of the fruit of the pepper vine (Piper nigrum).

Piperine is the alkaloid responsible for the pungency of black pepper and long pepper, along with chavicine (an isomer of piperine). It has also been used in some forms of traditional medicine and as an insecticide.

The sharp flavour of freshly ground pepper is attributed to the compound chavicine, a geometric isomer (having the same molecular formula but differing in structure) of piperine. The loss of pungency of ground pepper on storage is associated with slow transformation of chavicine into piperine.

1. People take black pepper for stomach upset, bronchitis, and cancer. They take white pepper for stomach upset, malaria, cholera, and cancer.
2. Black pepper is sometimes applied directly to the skin for treating nerve pain (neuralgia) and a skin disease called scabies. Black pepper and white pepper are also used topically as a counterirritant for pain.
3. In foods and beverages, black pepper, white pepper, and pepper oil (a product distilled from black pepper) are used as flavoring agents.
4. Black pepper was believed to cure illness such as constipation, diarrhoea, earache, gangrene, heart disease, hernia, hoarseness, indigestion, insect bites, insomnia, joint pain, liver problems, lung disease, oral abscesses, sunburn, tooth decay, and toothaches.