- 건국대학교

	KU Research Team Develops Technologies to Produce an Alternative for Conventional Antibiotics on an Industrial Scale
	관리자		746		2016.03.04

On February 12, 2016, Konkuk University (KU) announced that a research team led by Professor Chankyu Park of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology developed a new method to produce antimicrobial peptides (AMP) in large scale. AMPs receive much interest as an alternative for conventional antibiotics because of their strong antimicrobial activity against conventional antibiotic-resistant strains. While AMPs can be chemically synthesized or produced through genetic engineering, due to the length of peptides chemically synthesis is costly and inappropriate for large-scale production. On the other hand, bactericidal effect and enzymes dissolving AMPs are challenges in genetic engineering. Using engineered green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a E. coli expression system, Professor Park’s research team developed a high efficiency expression system to produce AMPs as well as bacterial toxic proteins. “This research has significant implications for the industry, and we are filing an application under PCT,” said Professor Park. “We secured core technologies to facilitate research on AMPs and will lay the foundation to produce AMPs economically on an industrial scale.” The KU team is currently conducting research to produce seven types of AMPs, including Protegrin-1, PMAP-36, Buforin-2, and PR-26. The team also indicated that their research can be applied to other toxic proteins in host cells in addition to AMPs. The research received support from the Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the results were published on the website of Scientific Reports, an online journal from the publishers of Nature, in an article titled “Green Flourescent Protein as a Scaffold for High Efficiency Production of Functional Bacteriotoxic Protrains in Escherichia Coli.” <img style="margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto;" alt="" src="ArticleFile.do?id=11653131" />

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