Investment in science should be broad, as you never know what treasures may be discovered, a National Science Council (NSC) sponsored researcher said yesterday.
“In-depth biodiversity research should be encouraged,” said Grace Lo (羅竹芳), professor and dean at National Taiwan University’s College of Life Sciences.
Lo’s comments were based on her research on white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in shrimps. In finding a cure for WSSV, Lo discovered a protein in the virus called ICP11 that could help kill tumor cells in humans.
The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in December.
WSSV has caused serious economic losses, and can wipe out a whole pond of shrimps in a week. Lo’s team began to study WSSV, hoping to find a cure.
“The WSSV genome is composed of some 500 proteins. What is interesting about the virus is that most of these proteins are unique and therefore their functions are unknown. As such, it is globally acknowledged that these proteins merit research,” Lo said.
Lo’s team identified ICP11 as its first target, as the commonest protein in the WSSV genome.
Last year, Lo’s team joined forces with Academia Sinica vice president Andrew Wang’s (王惠鈞) lab. Wang contributed to a defining breakthrough when he identified ICP11 as a “DNA mimic protein,” meaning that it looked and functioned like DNA, Lo said.
“This finding alone is invaluable — to date, fewer than 10 DNA mimic proteins have been identified worldwide ... I began to ponder why ICP11 looks like DNA and what function it serves,” she said.
Lo found that in vitro, ICP11 binds with histones, proteins that enable the compaction of DNA strands into chromosomes and give chromosomes their shape.
In other words, ICP11 competes with cell DNA to bind with histones and, “without histones, DNA strands will unwind, and the cell will die,” Lo said.
While in vitro histone proteins have similar attributes to ICP11 and DNA strands, Lo said she suspects that in vivo ICP11 is capable of ripping off histone proteins that are already attached to DNA strands.
The finding could contribute to the development of a whole new variety of cancer drugs, as all tumor cells have DNA, and a drug that disassembles DNA would be deadly to all of them, Lo said.
Lo said her team was working on finding way to get ICP11 to function in the body, but her interest in WSSV will not end there.
“WSSV may be a treasure trove — we have identified another 10 proteins in it that are worth researching, just like ICP11,” she said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS