Medicine from the ocean using biotechnology
Introduction
The ocean has the oldest, most diverse, most numerous and least studied organisms on earth. It covers almost three fourths of our planet and has the potential to feed the world and supply cures for many diseases. Studying sea plants and animals is a challenge that is becoming easier due to advanced technologies such as deep-sea submersibles, sonar, lasers, videos, and satellites. In many cases, it 's simply too hard to make a drug from scratch. The chemistry is too complicated. So what then? Microbes can be grown in vats if researchers can figure out what to feed them, but other substances can be more difficult to reproduce. Many people don’t realize that pharmaceuticals are often derived from natural products discovered in a plant or animal. One example is Taxol, a common cancer drug which is derived from the bark of the Pacific yew, a tree found in the Pacific Northwest. Many drug companies and natural products chemists are now turning to the ocean as a source of similar helpful substances. Biotechnology tools are used in identifying, isolating, characterizing, testing, and synthesizing compounds discovered in marine animals and plants and then developed into drugs or other products (Fenical, 1993; Davidson, 1995; Kobayashi and Ishibashi, 1993).
Figure 1. Proteins in the venom of venomous fish like the devil firefish (Pterois miles) may be used as therapeutic drugs.
Aquatic biotechnology enables scientists to identify, isolate, characterize, and test, genes that are helping to advance our understanding of human health and disease. Osteoporosis, for example, is a condition characterized by a progressive loss of bone mass which over 90% of 25 million Americans, mostly women, are affected. A common treatment is human recombinant calcitonin a thyroid hormone that stimulates calcium uptake, bone calcification, and inhibits hone-digesting cells A recent study shows that some species of salmon produce this form of calcium. (Pomponi et al,
The ocean has the oldest, most diverse, most numerous and least studied organisms on earth. It covers almost three fourths of our planet and has the potential to feed the world and supply cures for many diseases. Studying sea plants and animals is a challenge that is becoming easier due to advanced technologies such as deep-sea submersibles, sonar, lasers, videos, and satellites. In many cases, it 's simply too hard to make a drug from scratch. The chemistry is too complicated. So what then? Microbes can be grown in vats if researchers can figure out what to feed them, but other substances can be more difficult to reproduce. Many people don’t realize that pharmaceuticals are often derived from natural products discovered in a plant or animal. One example is Taxol, a common cancer drug which is derived from the bark of the Pacific yew, a tree found in the Pacific Northwest. Many drug companies and natural products chemists are now turning to the ocean as a source of similar helpful substances. Biotechnology tools are used in identifying, isolating, characterizing, testing, and synthesizing compounds discovered in marine animals and plants and then developed into drugs or other products (Fenical, 1993; Davidson, 1995; Kobayashi and Ishibashi, 1993).
Figure 1. Proteins in the venom of venomous fish like the devil firefish (Pterois miles) may be used as therapeutic drugs.
Aquatic biotechnology enables scientists to identify, isolate, characterize, and test, genes that are helping to advance our understanding of human health and disease. Osteoporosis, for example, is a condition characterized by a progressive loss of bone mass which over 90% of 25 million Americans, mostly women, are affected. A common treatment is human recombinant calcitonin a thyroid hormone that stimulates calcium uptake, bone calcification, and inhibits hone-digesting cells A recent study shows that some species of salmon produce this form of calcium. (Pomponi et al,
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