CRISPR mines bacterial genome for hidden pharmaceutical treasure

said braka 8:48 PM
A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois

and colleagues at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore used CRISPR technology to turn on unexpressed, or "silent,"  in Streptomyces, a common class of bacteria that naturally produce many compounds that have already been used as antibiotics, anti-cancer agents and other drugs. The study, led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Huimin Zhao, was published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.
"In the past, researchers just screened the  that bacteria made in the lab to search for new drugs," Zhao said. "But once whole bacterial genomes were sequenced, we realized that we have only discovered a small fraction of the natural products coded in the genome.
"The vast majority of biosynthetic gene clusters are not expressed under laboratory conditions, or are expressed at very low levels. That's why we call them silent. There are a lot of new drugs and new knowledge waiting to be discovered from these silent gene clusters. They are truly hidden treasures."
To mine for undiscovered genomic treasure, the researchers first used computational tools to identify silent biosynthetic gene clusters - small groups of  involved in making chemical products. Then they used CRISPR technology to insert a strong promoter sequence before each gene that they wanted to activate, prompting the cell to make the natural products that the genes clusters coded for.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-crispr-bacterial-genome-hidden-pharmaceutical.html#jCp