So a team led by Govindasamy Mugesh from the institute’s Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry substituted a hydrogen atom of the protein with an iodine atom to achieve a nearly sixfold increase in protein uptake by cells. The increased protein uptake was seen even when the molecular weight of the protein was 28,000 dalton, meaning the protein was much bigger in size than most of the therapeutic small molecules. The team had to first synthesise a green fluorescent protein with one hydrogen atom being replaced with an iodine atom. To overcome the problem of protein degradation, the team treated the cells with a peptide (ppTG21). No toxicity“We are substituting only one hydrogen atom with an iodine atom in the entire protein.

Source: The Hindu April 20, 2019 12:35 UTC