{"id":146543,"date":"2015-01-13T15:15:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T14:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/?p=146543"},"modified":"2015-01-13T15:16:20","modified_gmt":"2015-01-13T14:16:20","slug":"farmacos-del-suelo-en-beneficio-de-la-humanidad-nuevas-tecnicas-genomicas-e-investigacion-participativa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2015\/01\/13\/146543","title":{"rendered":"F\u00e1rmacos del Suelo en Beneficio de la Humanidad (nuevas t\u00e9cnicas gen\u00f3micas, e investigaci\u00f3n participativa)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"farmacos-del-suelo\"\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drugs From Dirt: a citizen science project<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Buena parte de los ciudadanos desconocen <\/span>la gran variedad de f\u00e1rmacos descubiertos en el suelo<\/span>, as\u00ed como que estos han salvado cientos o miles de millones de vidas<\/span>. Gran parte de estas drogas dieron lugar a antibi\u00f3ticos<\/span><\/strong><\/span> (como por ejemplo la tetraciclina y la vancomicina, etc.). <\/span>La Medicina tiene una deuda importante a los microorganismos ed\u00e1ficos<\/strong><\/span> y especialmente con las bacterias y hongos. Estos peque\u00f1os bichitos <\/span>tambi\u00e9n han proporcionado o inspirado medicamentos contra el c\u00e1ncer y terapias inmunosupresoras utilizadas en los trasplantes de \u00f3rganos<\/strong><\/span>. Y todo ello <\/span>a pesar de que<\/strong><\/span>, como os menos narrado en post precedentes, <\/span>apenas conocemos la diversidad que<\/span> habita en el medio ed\u00e1fico<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. Hasta no hace mucho tiempo, los microbios que habitan en los suelos deb\u00edan aislarse tras crecer en placas Petri. Sin embargo el problema estriba en que hoy sabemos que la mayor parte de ellos no se desarrollaban en tales medios de cultivo, pasando inadvertidos a los cient\u00edficos. Sin embargo las actuales t\u00e9cnicas de secuenciamiento gen\u00f3mico permiten ahora detectar genes o grupos de genes que los investigadores pueden identificar como f\u00e1rmacos potenciales, directamente sobre las muestras de tierra<\/span><\/strong>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Obviamente, tales sofisticados procedimientos logran detectar enormes cantidades de mol\u00e9culas, algo que hace una d\u00e9cada parec\u00eda impensable.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>La nota de prensa del art\u00edculo que analizamos hoy ofrece resultados m\u00e1s que interesantes, y no solo desde el punto de vista farmacol\u00f3gico. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Omitir\u00e9 referirme a los procedimientos utilizados ya que se encuentran m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de los escasos conocimientos que tengo en tales materias. Abajo podr\u00e9is consultaros en la nota de prensa y el resumen del trabajo original, publicado en el PNAS<\/span><\/strong>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Sin embargo el avance es desorbitante ya que, a d\u00eda de hoy, la <\/span>bioprospecci\u00f3n de unas pocas muestras de suelo puede dar lugar a identificar una ingente cantidad de compuestos<\/strong><\/span>, algunos de los cuales servir\u00e1n para la producci\u00f3n de <\/span>nuevos<\/span> f\u00e1rmacos<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

No obstante el trabajo nos informa de muchos m\u00e1s temas. Por ejemplo, Los autores <\/span>compararon la riqueza y diversidad de genes biosint\u00e9ticos de 96 microbiomas de los suelos muestreados en una gran variedad de ambientes<\/strong><\/span> pertenecientes\u00a0a todas las regiones del suroeste y noreste de los Estados Unidos. M\u00e1s aun, como veremos, desean ampliar su colecci\u00f3n demandando a los edaf\u00f3logos interesados y al p\u00fablico en general el muestreo de perfiles de suelos de todos los Estados de la Uni\u00f3n (USA), como manifiestan en su p\u00e1gina Web. Se trata pues tambi\u00e9n de animar al ciudadano a que lleve a cabo la denominada investigaci\u00f3n participativa<\/span><\/strong>. M\u00e1s aun los autores del trabajo sesear\u00edan llevar a cabo mapas de diversidad gen\u00f3mica alrededor de todo el mundo<\/span><\/strong>. Traduciendo literalmente su frase: \u00ab<\/span>The Brady Lab quisiera extender este estudio y espera animar a los cient\u00edficos y ciudadanos para contribuir a esta iniciativa. El laboratorio ha creado un sitio web: <\/span><\/em>www.drugsfromdirt.org<\/span><\/em><\/a> en el que los ciudadanos y edaf\u00f3logos interesados, despu\u00e9s de registrarse, recibir\u00e1n informaci\u00f3n acerca de c\u00f3mo tomar muestras y enviarlas a nuestros laboratorios. El proceso es simple, dice Brady: \u00abTome una bolsa de s\u00e1ndwich, una cuchara o una esp\u00e1tula, y vierta un par de cucharadas de la bolsa, envi\u00e1ndonoslas despu\u00e9s<\/span><\/em>.\u00bb. Barrunto que si los compuestos que resulten de inter\u00e9s ser\u00e1n despu\u00e9s patentados, y hasta los participantes tendr\u00e1n que pagar para consumirlos cuando los\u00a0necesiten. Puro capitalismo neoliberal. Pero sigamos.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Los autores compararon la riqueza y diversidad de genes biosint\u00e9ticos de 96 microbiomas de los suelos muestreados en una gran variedad de ambientes de<\/span> <\/strong>todas las regiones del suroeste y noroeste de los Estados Unidos.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellos <\/span>encontraron una relaci\u00f3n entre el tipo de suelo y el tipo de mol\u00e9culas que sus microbios residentes ten\u00edan la capacidad de producir<\/strong><\/span>. Por razones que no entendemos, los <\/span>suelos \u00e1ridos resultaron albergar microbios capaces de producir una mayor diversidad de compuestos. <\/strong><\/span>Seguidamente tales investigadores comentan: \u00abEsperamos poder ampliar a otras regiones del pa\u00eds y del mundo, para incorporar muchas m\u00e1s muestras con el fin de crear mapas de la diversidad biosint\u00e9tica de los microorganismos del suelo<\/em>\u00ab. <\/span><\/p>\n

La sentencia en la que se indica <\/span>una relaci\u00f3n entre los tipos de suelos y las sustancias metab\u00f3licas segregadas o que atesoraban los microrganismos me resulta intrigante<\/strong>.\u00a0 Hasta el momento, no existen evidencias cient\u00edficas contundentes para poder afirmar que tipos de suelos distintos atesoran comunidades microbianas idiosincr\u00e1sicas. Se han publicado art\u00edculos que dec\u00edan corroborar tal correspondencia mientras que en otros se negaba. \u00bfCabr\u00eda pues la posibilidad de que llegaran a obtenerse evidencias m\u00e1s firmes al respecto por esta v\u00eda?. Sinceramente permanezco a la espectativa<\/strong><\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finalmente los autores apuntan a que: \u201cEsperamos poder ampliar nuestro estudio a otras regiones del pa\u00eds y del mundo, para incorporar muchas m\u00e1s muestras con el fin de <\/em><\/span>elaborar <\/strong>mapas de la diversidad biosint\u00e9tica de los microorganismos del suelo<\/strong><\/span><\/em>\u201d. Ya sabemos que las ciencias del suelo captan escasos fondos en comparaci\u00f3n\u00a0con otras\u00a0muchas disciplinas cient\u00edficas. Pero si comparamos las ingentes cantidades de dinero que se invierten en medicina, salud p\u00fablica e investigaci\u00f3n farmac\u00e9utica, con la calderilla con la que nos vemos obligados a investigar los edaf\u00f3logos, las diferencias son abismales. Cuando inici\u00e9 la andadura en esta bit\u00e1cora ya os comente en diversos post <\/span>que la bioprospecci\u00f3n de suelos y regolitos deb\u00eda ser una l\u00ednea a explorar<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Y el estudio as\u00ed lo sugiere. <\/span>Si realmente estos investigadores obtienen resultados exitosos el estrecho y sinuoso camino por el que actualmente transcurre la biolog\u00eda, gen\u00e9tica y bioqu\u00edmica del suelo actual se convertir\u00eda en una enorme autopista<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. <\/span>Esperemos que as\u00ed sea. <\/span><\/p>\n

Os dejo ya con la informaci\u00f3n comentada, aunque escrita en suajili\u2026\u2026<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Juan Jos\u00e9 Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Searching for drugs in dirt: Researchers call on citizen scientists<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Date: <\/em><\/strong>May 16, 2014; Source: <\/em><\/strong>Rockefeller University<\/p>\n

Summary<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em><\/strong>Microbes are not only a rich source of disease, but also a rich source of medicines, and experts think many life-saving compounds produced by as-yet-unnamed bacteria are awaiting discovery. But they don\u2019t always give up their secrets easily. Researchers must know where to look to find promising bacteria, and how to get them to grow in the lab, the traditional route to identifying potentially valuable molecules they produce.<\/p>\n

Getting dirty. Researchers, including postdoc Zach Charlop-Powers (above), are looking for antibiotics and other natural products by sequencing the genetic material found in soil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Microbes are not only a rich source of disease, but also a rich source of medicines, and experts think many life-saving compounds produced by as-yet-unnamed bacteria are awaiting discovery<\/strong>. But they don’t always give up their secrets easily. Researchers must know where to look to find promising bacteria, and how to get them to grow in the lab, the traditional route to identifying potentially valuable molecules they produce.<\/p>\n

Researchers in Sean Brady’s Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules are working on a way around these roadblocks. By using genomic sequencing technology<\/strong>, they can investigate the organisms that live in habitats like soil without having to grow the microbes in the lab<\/strong>. They are using this information to map out the location of gene clusters they believe may encode novel antibiotics<\/strong>, and, with help from citizen scientists around the country, they are hoping to process soil samples from areas they would never be able to visit on their own<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In a preliminary effort, Brady’s lab has surveyed nearly 100 soil samples from two U.S. regions, looking for genetic sequences that encode certain molecule-making abilities. \u00abWe hope to expand to other regions of the country and the world, to incorporate many more samples in order to create maps of the biosynthetic diversity of soil microbes<\/strong>,\u00bb says Zachary Charlop-Powers, a postdoc in the lab. \u00abThese maps could help guide drug discovery by identifying variants on known bacterial genes that might be part of a gene cluster encoding a new antibiotic<\/strong>.\u00bb<\/p>\n

Medicine already owes a major debt to microbes, particularly bacteria<\/strong>. These tiny organisms have produced or inspired many antibiotics, from tetracycline to vancomycin, as well as cancer-fighting drugs and immune system-suppressing therapies used for organ transplants<\/strong>. These bacterial natural products are part of the organisms’ chemical defense system and these molecules have historically been isolated from the broth of bacteria grown in the laboratory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00abHowever, genetic evidence hints there are many, many more bacteria out there that we may not be able to grow<\/strong>,\u00bb Brady says. \u00abAnd they should be an equally rich source of useful natural products. We have been developing genetic tools to help<\/strong> us look for new chemistry by looking at the genes used to synthesize these natural products.\u00bb<\/p>\n

For the past five years, Brady’s lab has been sequencing and shifting through DNA obtained directly from soil to identify potentially useful genes<\/strong>, which the researchers then transplant into more-laboratory friendly bugs.<\/p>\n

Charlop-Powers, Brady and colleagues recently published the first geographical survey intended to speed this discovery process in the<\/strong> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/strong>. For this study, they focused on genes responsible for producing two important families of biologically active molecules: nonribosomal peptides and polyketides<\/strong>. These families include most of the therapeutic molecules <\/strong>isolated from cultured bacteria, but in spite of this diversity, the underlying genetic architecture remains constant<\/strong>. In these families, repetitive genetic domains generate molecules in an assembly line-like fashion that evolution has frequently retooled.<\/p>\n

In DNA from 96 soil samples collected for the survey<\/strong>, the researchers looked at two of these domains to get a sense for the diversity and richness of microbes capable of producing compounds these families<\/strong>. They found a link between the type of soil and the sorts of molecules its resident microbes had the capacity to produce<\/strong>. \u00abFor reasons we don’t understand, arid soils turned out to harbor microbes capable of producing a greater diversity of compounds<\/strong>,\u00bb Charlop-Powers says. For this preliminary survey, Brady called on his family to send in samples from Arizona and New Mexico; another postdoc in his lab, Jeremy Owen, collected soil in New England.<\/p>\n

The Brady Lab would like to extend this study and hopes to encourage citizen scientists to contribute to the effort. The lab has set up a website<\/strong>: www.drugsfromdirt.org<\/a> and after signing up, citizen scientists will receive information about how to collect and ship samples<\/strong>. The process is simple, says Brady: \u00abTake a sandwich bag, a spoon or a trowel, and dump a couple of spoonfuls in the bag and ship it to us.\u00bb<\/p>\n

Story Source: <\/strong>The above story is based on materials<\/a> provided by Rockefeller University<\/strong><\/a>. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.<\/em><\/p>\n

Journal Reference<\/strong>: Z. Charlop-Powers, J. G. Owen, B. V. B. Reddy, M. A. Ternei, S. F. Brady. Chemical-biogeographic survey of secondary metabolism in soil<\/strong>. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>, 2014; 111 (10): 3757 DOI: 10.1073\/pnas.1318021111<\/a><\/p>\n

Cite This Page<\/strong>: MLA<\/strong><\/a>, APA<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Chicago<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Rockefeller University. \u00abSearching for drugs in dirt: Researchers call on citizen scientists.\u00bb ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 May 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2014\/05\/140516202659.htm>.<\/p>\n

Related Articles: <\/strong>Oily fish<\/a>, Bacteria<\/a>, Biopharmaceutical<\/a>, Drug discovery<\/a>, Carbon monoxide<\/a>. Kiwifruit<\/a><\/p>\n

Chemical-biogeographic survey of secondary metabolism in soil<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Abstract del Trabajo Original.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Significance<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A comparative analysis of conserved domain <\/span>fragments amplified from nonribosomal peptide and polyketide-type gene clusters present in diverse soil microbiomes revealed a link between soil type, species composition, and biosynthetic richness<\/strong>, <\/span>as well as an unexpected conservation of the meta-secondary metabolome present within microbiomes from similar soil types<\/span><\/strong>. Although the functional consequences of these enrichment patterns is not yet clear, it suggests that <\/span>similar soil types contain functionally related collections of secondary metabolites that likely play conserved roles in the ecology of these soils<\/strong>. This work provides a model for the large-scale extension of molecular phylogenetic-type analyses directly to the study, characterization, and comparison of <\/span>secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene<\/span><\/strong>clusters<\/span><\/strong>that remain hidden in diverse soil microbiomes<\/span><\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In this study, we compare biosynthetic gene richness and diversity of 96 soil microbiomes from diverse environments found throughout the southwestern and northeastern regions of the United States. The 454-pyroseqencing of nonribosomal peptide adenylation (AD) and polyketide ketosynthase (KS) domain fragments amplified from these microbiomes provide a means to evaluate the variation of secondary metabolite biosynthetic diversity in different soil environments. Through soil composition and AD- and KS-amplicon richness analysis, we identify soil types with elevated biosynthetic potential. In general, arid soils show the richest observed biosynthetic diversity, whereas brackish sediments and pine forest soils show the least. By mapping individual environmental amplicon sequences to sequences derived from functionally characterized biosynthetic gene clusters, we identified conserved soil type\u2013specific secondary metabolome enrichment patterns despite significant sample-to-sample sequence variation. These data are used to create chemical biogeographic distribution maps for biomedically valuable families of natural products in the environment that should prove useful for directing the discovery of bioactive natural products in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Drugs From Dirt: a citizen science project \u00a0Buena parte de los ciudadanos desconocen la gran variedad de f\u00e1rmacos descubiertos en el suelo, as\u00ed como que estos han salvado cientos o miles de millones de vidas. Gran parte de estas drogas dieron lugar a antibi\u00f3ticos (como por ejemplo la tetraciclina y la vancomicina, etc.). La Medicina tiene una deuda importante a los microorganismos ed\u00e1ficos y especialmente con las bacterias y hongos. Estos peque\u00f1os bichitos tambi\u00e9n han proporcionado o inspirado medicamentos contra el c\u00e1ncer y terapias inmunosupresoras utilizadas en los trasplantes de \u00f3rganos. Y todo ello a pesar de que, como\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[596,590,586,591,597,604,587,592],"tags":[46662,46897,46736,46726,47701,47700,47699,47702],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":4}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146543"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146627,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146543\/revisions\/146627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}