Anticoagulant from a bioreactor
A safe medicinal component of snake venom was obtained from yeast
Scientists inserted viper genes into yeast and obtained a blood clot remedy similar to a component of natural snake venom. They told about their experiment on the pages of the journal Scientific Reports (Guo et al., Balancing the Expression and Production of a Heterodimeric Protein: Recombinant Agkisacutacin as a Novel Antithrombotic Drug Candidate, in open access – VM), and the publication Popular Science: Engineered yeast produced viper venom briefly reports about it.
The pit-headed snake Agkistrodon acutus, which lives in Southeast Asia, enjoys a reputation as a deadly animal: it is sometimes called "five steps" – so much a person can walk after a viper bite.
However, the protein agkisacutalin present in its venom is a powerful anticoagulant (a means of delaying blood clotting). It minimizes the likelihood of blood clots – a common cause of heart failure – and at the same time causes almost no side effects. However, until recently, scientists have not been able to isolate agkisakutalin from poison in a safe form for humans.
Chinese scientists have modified the genes of Pichia pastoris yeast, which are often used as a model organism (as well as as a dietary supplement). Two Pichia pastoris genes were replaced with snake genes, and then they began to feed yeast with glycerin at room temperature. After 18 hours, the scientists added methyl alcohol, as a result of which the yeast processed glycerin and isolated an anticoagulant protein.
The new technology has already passed biosafety tests in China. In order to establish the production of an anticoagulant on an industrial scale, scientists have signed a contract with a private biomedical company. While yeast dies after 38 hours of protein production, but the improvement of the technological process will allow for a week to get 10 liters of culture medium and extract from it the same amount of substance as the "milking" of 15 thousand snakes during the year.
Figure from an article in Scientific Reports – VM.
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21.07.2015