A team of 11 biotechnology students and one electrical engineering student from
IIT Madras has formulated a new technique to grow bacteria without using antibiotics
to kill other bacteria types in a bioreactor.
Many scientists and experts fear that antibiotic-resistant
bacteria, such as the superbug that is rattling the medical community, originate
in laboratories. And a team of 11 biotechnology students and one electrical
engineering student from IIT Madras has formulated a new technique to grow bacteria
without using antibiotics to kill other bacteria types in a bioreactor. In biology,
the standard procedure to grow one type of bacteria in a reactor involves making
the desired bacteria resistant to an antibiotic and then introducing the toxin to
kill all the other bacteria.
Using genetic engineering, the students extracted the DNA sequence from the proteorhodopsin
gene in marine bacteria, modified it to make it more user-friendly for research,
and inserted the sequence into E.coli bacteria. The bacteria read the DNA and started
producing the proteorhodopsin protein, which is capable of absorbing light and producing
energy that it uses to multiply. This means the protein-injected bacteria can multiply
in the absence of food - sugar - while others cannot. The energy produced in the
cell can also be used to improve the manufacturing process of certain biochemical,
said Kousik S, a member of the team.
Courtesy: Times of India
