ENZYME TO CURB BACTERIA CELL GROWTH

Prelims level : Science and Tech Mains level : GS paper-III
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Why in News:

  • Scientists at the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) have discovered a new enzyme which helps in breaking cell walls of bacteria and offers a potential for a new drug delivery route to arrest the anti-bacterial resistance through existing antibiotic drugs.

Details:

  • Scientists all over the world are working on how e. coli bacteria cells function, divide and grow to cause diseases like cholera, leprosy, tuberculosis. Other bacteria too have the same enzyme working on cell division as the cell wall is fundamental for bacterial growth and division.
  • By blocking the ‘scissors enzyme’ from functioning leads a new way to target microbes, leading to a new wave of antibiotic drugs.

Classical antibiotic drugs:

  • It targets the last stage of cell synthesis to prevent cell growth like penicillin that hits the machinery that creates the cell wall — a mesh-like structure of cross-linked sugars and peptides.

Antibody:

  • An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
  • The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the pathogen, called an antigen via the fragment antigen-binding (Fab) variable region.

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCBR)

  • The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology or CCMB is an Indian biotechnology   research   establishment   located in Hyderabad. It operates under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
  • CCMB is a designated as ” Center of Excellence” by the Global Molecular and Cell Biology Network, UNESCO.
  • The Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) is a premier research organization in frontier areas of modern biology.
  • The objectives of the Centre are to conduct high quality basic research and training in frontier areas of modern biology, and to promote centralized national facilities for new and modern techniques in the inter-disciplinary areas of biology.
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