In a classic case of turning an enemy into a friend,
scientists have engineered a protein from flesh-eating bacteria to act as a
molecular “superglue” that promises to become a disease fighter. And their
latest results, which make the technology more versatile, were the topic of a
report here today at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the
American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
“We’ve turned the tables and put one kind of flesh-eating
bacterium to good use,” said Mark Howarth, Ph.D., who led the research. “We
have engineered one of its proteins into a molecular superglue that adheres so
tightly that the set-up we used to measure the strength actually broke. It
resists high and low temperatures, acids and other harsh conditions and seals
quickly. With this material we can lock proteins together in ways that could
underpin better diagnostic tests — for early detection of cancer cells
circulating in the blood, for instance. There are many uses in research, such
as probing how the forces inside cells change the biochemistry and affect
health and disease.”