Once Extinct Plant Gene Could Impact New Drug Discovery
COS/BioE Professor Jing-Ke Weng applied a new method called molecular gene resurrection to repair a defunct gene found in the coyote tobacco plant that encodes cyclic peptide nanamin. This peptide could be used in new cancer treatments, antibiotics development, and insect protection for crops. The research was published in PNAS.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cody Mello-Klein. Main photo: Led by Jing-Ke Weng, a Northeastern professor of chemistry, chemical biology and bioengineering, the research provides insight into plant evolution. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Researchers resurrect extinct gene in plants with major implications for drug development
Northeastern University researchers resurrected an extinct plant gene, turning back the evolutionary clock to pave a path forward for the development and discovery of new drugs.
Specifically, the team, led by Jing-Ke Weng, a professor of chemistry, chemical biology and bioengineering at Northeastern, repaired a defunct gene in the coyote tobacco plant. In a new paper, they detail their discovery of a previously unknown kind of cyclic peptide, or mini protein, called nanamin that is easy to bioengineer, making it “a platform with huge potential for drug discovery,” Weng says.
The size and chemical mutability of cyclic peptides make them perfectly suited for drug discovery, says Jing-Ke Weng, a Northeastern professor of chemistry, chemical biology and bioengineering. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
“It will provide chemical biologists with other tools to develop new peptide-based cancer treatments, for discovering new antibiotics and also for agricultural applications for defense against pathogens and insects,” Weng says.
Plants have driven countless innovations in the discovery and development of new drugs. However, Weng says there has been a more recent turn toward human-synthesized compounds that are not nearly as efficient as using a plant’s natural evolutionary process.
“If you start with random compounds, it’s actually pretty hard to get it to be druglike,” Weng says. “Evolution over hundreds of millions of years has done its job, so very likely nanamin and its analogs are already playing certain roles in nature. We’re just leveraging that and using that for drug discovery.”
That’s where cyclic peptides present an opportunity. Made up of short strings of amino acids, cyclic peptides are very small and almost tailor-made for use in drug development.
“Cyclic peptides are much smaller, so it’s like a small molecule drug but has the chemical features of a protein. You can also engineer it,” Weng says. “We can easily generate a library that produces millions of these peptides that can be used for drug screening.”
Read full story at Northeastern Global News