Yeast Study Yields Potential for New Cholesterol, Anti-fungal Drugs
March 20, 2013| |
Mutation in the yeast that lack Set1 gene coding for methyltransferase could be the key in producing drugs that could reduce cholesterol production in humans. The lack of methyltransferase in plants decreases the production of ergosterol which is similar to cholesterol in humans.
"So, if we could actually design an inhibitor to this methyltransferase, we potentially could have another drug to lower cellular cholesterol or one that could work in conjunction with current cholesterol-lowering drugs," said Scott Briggs, the co-author of the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In addition, the same yeast mutant was found to be sensitive to an anti-fungal metabolite called Brefeldin A. "If you don't have this methyltransferase, cells grow slower in the presence of this anti-fungal metabolite," Paul South, co-author of the paper said. "That means that a drug that inhibits the methyltransferase could also be used as an anti-fungal drug and potentially be used as another tool to fight drug-resistant fungal infections."
For more on the news, see http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q1/yeast-study-yields-potential-for-new-cholesterol,-anti-fungal-drugs.html
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