Student discovers anti-bacterial properties of human gene
Research undertaken by a city-based biotechnology student has shed light on the anti-bacterial properties of a human gene named GAPDH.A M Anugeethu won the best paper award in Biotechnology for this discovery at the Kerala Science Congress which concluded on Friday in Thiruvananthapuram. The gene was earlier thought to be involved only in the respiratory process.
“The anti-bacterial properties of this gene were not known earlier. The main reason is that the gene does not reveal its properties completely as it is a ‘pseudogene’.
A pseudogene is filled with chemicals called stop codons which prevent it from showing its properties. But in recent studies some scientists have proved that this gene has other properties apart from the respiratory ones like DNA repair and replication. This is what made us curious,”, says Anugeethu. When the research was undertaken, the scientists took a portion of the gene that was free of inhibiting stop-codons.
“We identified a small portion of the gene which did not have these stop codons. When we examined it, we found that it can produce several positively charged chemicals.
“Since all bacteria have a negatively charged layer, we assumed that this gene can potentially kill the bacteria with it’s opposite positive charge.
“This was confirmed when we put the gene through an anti-bacterial sensitivity test,” says Anugeethu.
She says that the gene has other characteristics. The most important one is that the bacteria will not be able to develop any resistance against this protein even in the long term.
“The drawback of ordinary antibiotic is that bacteria can develop resistance against them after some time. So, the antibiotic need to be modified later to fight the disease.
“But in the case of this gene, the protein instantly kills the bacteria through an electric shock without giving it any opportunity to develop any such resistance,” said Mohan Kumar C, head of the SCMS college of Bioscience and Biotechnology, who was involved in the project.
- New Indian express
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