Designer Drugs May Respond to Genetic Switch
By Biotechdaily staff writers
Posted on 02 Mar 2005
Researchers have found a way to use a genetic switch to control the activity of a specific protein, which could facilitate the development of designer drugs that would only become active in cells expressing a certain gene.Posted on 02 Mar 2005
Investigators at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, USA), attached a single strand of DNA to maltose binding protein, a transport protein. Working with a bacterial model, they found that binding a complementary DNA strand--forming double-stranded DNA--caused a change in the mechanical tension of the protein molecule. The alteration in tension was sufficient to transform the protein from an inert to an active state. These findings were published in the January 28, 2005, issue of Physical Review Letters.
"We can switch a protein on and off, and while we have controlled a specific protein, we believe our approach will work with virtually any protein,” said contributing author Dr. Giovanni Zocchi, assistant professor of physics at UCLA. "This research has the potential to start a new approach to protein engineering.”
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