Malaria drug could help treat rare genomic diseases
Scientists from Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University and their colleagues have studied how the antimalarial drug mefloquine affects the work of cell structures in the body responsible for protein assembly.
The authors of the study first determined how the structure of ribosomes in mushroom cells changes in the presence of the antimalarial drug mefloquine. To do this, the researchers used cryo-electron microscopy - a variant of electron microscopy in which samples are studied at low temperatures - as well as X-ray crystallography. This is a technique that establishes the three-dimensional structure of compounds by the way their crystals scatter X-rays.
"We have developed a new method for crystallizing the ribosomes of the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans that allows us to see small molecules in the active centers of the ribosome, which was previously difficult to do by cryo-electron microscopy. Adding to it X-ray crystallography data, we were able to see in 3D with atomic resolution, how the structure of the ribosome changes when binding to different molecules," - told "Izvestia" project participant, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Medical Physics KFU Konstantin Usachev.
The data obtained will make it possible to develop drugs that interact with ribosomes and trigger further protein synthesis in the cells of patients who suffer from inherited diseases associated with protein synthesis disorders.
Read more in an exclusive Izvestia article:
Protein constructs: malaria drug will help treat rare diseases
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
