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Bacteria could be the new weapon in the fight against drug trafficking, according to an article published in the May 2004 issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine for the Society for General Microbiology. Researchers at CNAP, University of York, have found bacteria that grow on heroin and morphine and believe that two special proteins from these bugs could be used to detect heroin.
“This is hugely important”, explains Professor Neil Bruce of CNAP, “since the need for a rapid, hand-held detection system for use by Customs officers has never been greater.”
The team have also found bacterial proteins that can be used to treat drug overdoses, while other proteins were found to improve the production of morphine-like painkillers.
Microbes have long been associated with drugs and this issue of Microbiology Today takes a look at the close relationship that microbes have with a wide range of drugs – from narcotics to antimicrobials. The introduction of antibacterial agents, chemical disinfectants and antiseptics, had already made significant improvements in public health, long before the famous discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in the 1920’s. Later developments brought antiviral and antifungal drugs, and studies of the immune system highlighted the promise offered by host defence peptides. Now genomics is helping in the quest for new drugs.
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