2023-04-20 02:27:55
[충청뉴스 이성현 기자] A Korean research team has found a clue to controlling the toxicity of cholera bacillus using radiation.
The Advanced Radiation Research Institute of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute announced on the 20th that Dr. Min-gyu Kim’s research team in the Accelerated Isotope Lab worked with Seoul National University to find the principle of suppressing the protein related to cholera toxin expression.
When infected with Vibrio, a high-risk pathogen that causes cholera or sepsis, the protein transporting fructose is greatly increased. Through this, the relationship between fructose transport protein and toxin production was known, but it was not known how to control the amount of the protein.
The research team paid attention to HPr (phosphate transporter protein) and FruR (fructose transport protein activator), which are proteins involved in sugar metabolism regulation, to find the principle of suppressing fructose transport protein expression. Changes in HPr and FruR phenomena were observed when glucose or fructose were present in the environment around cholera bacteria.
Cholera is known to prefer glucose to fructose. In the presence of glucose, HPr and FruR bind and the fructose transport protein is not expressed. The same was true when glucose and fructose were present together.
On the other hand, when only fructose was present, HPr and FruR were separated and the fructose transport protein was expressed. The research team confirmed this phenomenon for the first time in the world and succeeded in identifying its molecular mechanism.
In particular, the bonding method of HPr and FruR was revealed for the first time using X-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallography is a method of determining the atomic structure by analyzing the diffraction phenomenon that occurs when X-rays, a type of radiation, are applied to atoms. The three-dimensional structure of a protein can be clearly identified. Through this, the binding method between the two proteins and the structural features of the complex, which are distinguished from other bacteria, were confirmed.
“We have identified a phenomenon that can control the toxicity of bacillus cholera using X-rays,” said Byeong-yeop Jeong, director of the Advanced Radiation Research Institute.
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