MADRID, 30 (EUROPA PRESS)
An investigation led by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientÃficas (CSIC) has managed to describe the behavior of a filament of the protein FtsZ, a molecule which is the basis of the structure from which a bacterium begins its process of Division and multiply.
Thanks to a computer simulation, the team has discovered that only the ends of these filaments are enzymatically active. Even if you add or remove links from the filament, the enzymatic activity always remains at the end. Protein FtsZ is homologous to the tubulin in humans, since it is responsible for cell division.
“in the same way that the tubulin is a preferential target in chemotherapy, that promotes the proliferation of cancerous cells; the protein FtsZ can be a target against the spread of bacterial infections”, explains the researcher at the CSIC in the center of biology Molecular Severo Ochoa – Centre joint of the CSIC and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid – Paulino Gómez doors.
Computer simulation of this activity has been corroborated, moreover, with experiments ' in vitro ', described in the article that has been published in the latest issue of the magazine ' FEBS Letters '. According to the researchers explained, the discovery can be used in the development of new antibiotics.
The inquiry, led by Gómez doors, has counted with the collaboration of researchers from the national centre of biotechnology of the CSIC, Hospital Universitario La Paz and the company Biomol Informatics.
