A cure for cocaine addiction has been found on coca plantations
A cocaine-eating mutant enzyme is able to treat drug addiction in humans
gearmix.ru according to Gizmodo: A Mutant Cocaine-Eating Enzyme Could Cure Addiction and OverdosesGet ready for some really weird science news.
Bacteria containing an enzyme that decomposes cocaine have been found in the soil near coca plantations. Unfortunately, this enzyme rapidly decays at human body temperature (its half-life in such conditions is only 12 minutes) – therefore, it cannot be used to treat overdoses or drug addiction. However, now researchers have developed a modified version of it that can withstand human temperature – and at the same time have increased her cocaine appetite by two and a half times.
Scientists from the University of Kentucky were able to increase the half-life of the enzyme in the human body from the initial 12 minutes to more than a hundred days. At the same time, they also managed to increase its effectiveness in destroying cocaine by 150% compared to the natural variety.
The team managed to do this by creating a computer model of a natural enzyme, and simulating a high-temperature environment to see which part of the structure would fail first. Once they were able to identify the vulnerable points, they only had to find specific mutations that would strengthen these parts of the structure without disrupting the activity of the enzyme.
This required only two changes: small mutations to create a double bond at the vulnerable point, which allowed the structure to survive for more than 100 days at human body temperature, and to absorb a much larger amount of cocaine. After that, a new mutant enzyme was tested on mice - and the tests were successful. According to a recently published article, the modified enzyme was able to completely protect mice from lethal doses of cocaine for at least three days. This means that it can be useful both as a short-term antidote against overdoses and as a long-term drug against drug addiction. Of course, this will not happen in the very near future – the technology requires further research. However, in the future, the enzyme generated by the bacterium may prove to be a savior for many people who have earned an addiction to a dangerous drug.
The active center of the modified enzyme molecule. Figure from the article by Lei Fang et al.
Rational Design, Preparation, and Characterization of a Therapeutic Enzyme Mutant
with Improved Stability and Function for Cocaine Detoxification
(ACS Chem. Biol., 2014) – VM.
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