New Delhi: The bacteria behind tuberculosis has been studied by hundreds of academics especially since its genetic sequence was mapped in 1998. But scientists have now realised that they misunderstood one of the TB genes and the finding could reveal a new weakness in the bacteria.
The team of researchers, led by the biochemist Luiz Pedro Carvalho, of the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology in the US, published their findings on 17 August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Until now, scientists had believed that the rv2531c gene produced an enzyme that made molecules the bacteria needed for its basic functions such as growth. However, the study suggests that rv2531c is an enzyme that takes glutamate, a molecule found in cells, and converts it into GABA, another molecule that bacteria can use either in their metabolism or while responding to stressful conditions.
“What scientists thought we knew about this enzyme is just wrong, it acts in a completely different way. This expands our understanding of microbial metabolism and opens new avenues for targeting metabolic pathways in several pathogenic organisms,” said Carvalho in a press release.
The misunderstood enzyme lies dormant for long periods of time, but under the right conditions it begins acting extremely fast and can convert nearly 70 molecules of glutamate every second.
“It’s just insane, it converts glutamate to GABA at a rate of 70 per second. It’s one of the quickest enzymes we have,” added Carvalho.
What makes such a finding particularly important is that TB is a difficult disease to treat. The TB bacteria is great at surviving the harsh conditions within the human body and can even stay inactive for years before getting “switched on” again.
Although there is a lot more research before such conclusions can be drawn, if the rv2531 enzyme is one of the factors that help TB survive stressful conditions, then scientists could target it using new medications. However, it is important to note that for now researchers have only found that an enzyme behaves in a way they did not know. They still need to establish what the enzyme’s role is and whether it could be useful for drug discovery.
The findings also raise the question that there might be other TB genes which scientists might have misunderstood too.
“This is a natural product, and we have no idea what it does. If this natural product turns out to be the next anti-cancer drug, or red-tide remedy? A natural molecule that isn’t a toxin? You cannot predict the potential usefulness of what’s going to come out of this,” said Carvalho.