Kane Biotech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KNE), a biotechnology company engaged in the development of products that prevent and disperse bacterial biofilms is pleased to announce that a recent research publication from Princeton University reveals the genetic basis of poly-ß-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG), the DispersinB® enzyme substrate, based biofilm formation in bacteria. The manuscript appeared in the open-access journal "PLoS Pathogens" (e1000432, Vol. 5:1-16, 2009).
The publication, entitled "Genetic Dissection of an Exogenously Induced Biofilm in Laboratory and Clinical Isolates of E. coli" by Amini, et al., highlights a novel approach to understanding of biofilm molecular biology beyond what is currently known in order to develop effective strategies for controlling biofilms in clinical settings.
"By using a powerful genome-wide technology, we identified the genes and pathways involved in PNAG-based biofilm formation," stated Dr. Saeed Tavazoie, Department of Molecular Biology and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. "Our findings revealed that structural interactions between PNAG and bacterial cell surface structures are the crucial determinants of biofilm formation and pathways of acid tolerance, capsule biosynthesis, and regulation of cell morphology modulate this," added Dr. Tavazoie.
Dr. Sri Madhyastha, Vice President-Research & Chief Scientific Officer of Kane Biotech, commented on the findings stating, "Since DispersinB® target PNAG is involved in E. coli biofilm formation, DispersinB® will prevent as well as disperse E. coli biofilms. This is very useful in designing antibiofilm-antimicrobial combination products comprising DispersinB® and antibiotics for making the antibiotic therapies much more effective against highly resistant biofilm forming bacteria such as deadly E. coli O157:H7".
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