The emergence of recombinant proteins revolutionized the world of science and medicine, accelerating and broadening the processes for obtaining various drugs, vaccines, and therapies that allow for the treatment and cure of different types of diseases. This biological technology helps us better understand the metabolism of various diseases, enabling us to design a tailored response against bacteria, viruses, and even autoimmune and genetic diseases.
**The Proteins**
Now, what are recombinant proteins? To answer this question, we first need to understand what proteins are. Proteins are essential organic molecules for all known life, present in all living organisms. They are responsible for shaping the structure of cells and carrying out various metabolic functions, allowing for the generation of the energy that keeps all organisms alive.
**The database of all life**
These important molecules are synthesized from the information contained in another essential molecule for life, deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly known as DNA. This other molecule functions as the database that contains all the instructions for the proper functioning of cells and their correct interaction.
DNA is composed of a union of sugars that form long chains. These sugars, known as nucleotides, contain a compound called nitrogenous base, which has 4 distinct variants: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine.
The different combinations of these nitrogenous bases in the nucleotide chain allow for the writing of the information contained in the DNA. The different fragments of DNA that code for a specific protein are called genes, and the complete set of genes in an organism makes up its genome.
Many diseases arise from errors in reading the code contained in a gene, where often a nitrogenous base is “accidentally” changed to another, altering the code and leading to the synthesis of defective proteins that cannot perform their function properly.
**Recombinant Proteins**
Now that we understand a little more about what proteins are and where they originate, we can talk about recombinant proteins, also known as heterologous proteins. These are proteins from one organism that are produced (through genetic engineering) in other organisms, for example, a human protein produced in a bacterium or yeast. Furthermore, these proteins often contain additional fragments that allow them to be labeled for various detection tests or to be purified.
The ability to produce a specific protein in different microorganisms allows for the development of small factories that are in constant production under suitable conditions. In this way, we can utilize the metabolic pathways of microorganisms (developed over thousands of years of evolution) to our advantage, directing them to ultimately synthesize a protein of interest with a specific biotechnological application.
This technology enhances and accelerates research in various scientific fields, allowing for significant advances in science. For example, it allows us to correct errors that occur when producing defective proteins, design a protein that acts on a specific pathogen leading to its elimination, or train the immune system to improve the response to the contagion of a disease (vaccines).
In addition to applications in the health field, there are numerous possibilities that can be realized with this tool in various areas, such as bioremediation, agriculture, livestock, and the food industry, among others.
This was just a brief overview of the many applications that this biotechnological technique can have, from which many other techniques derive. The use of biological machinery to address various questions and problems arising in humanity is the path to follow to achieve increasingly significant advancements.
Author: Nicolás Crivaro, Lecturer in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at UADE.
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