Part of the edge research in drugs in Brazil is taking soil samples from Belém (PA) to a larger laboratories complex than a soccer stadium in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo. All this trip is to put microscopic beings in what is roughly the largest microscope in South America, the Sirius accelerator, part of the National Center for Energy and Materials Research (CNPEM). With this tool, it is possible to understand how bacteria genes work and what substances they can create. The teams involved seek substances with antibiotic and antitumoral potential, and the first results were published in December in a International Specialized Magazine.
The reason for this Amazonian soil trip is the partnership between CNPEM and the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Fieldwork began by collecting soil samples from the interiors of Utinga State Park, conservation reserve consisting in 1993 and which has restored areas and areas without recent human intervention. The group investigated three bacterial species of the classes Actinomycetes and Bacilli isolated from the soil of the Amazon, comprising bacteria of the genre Streptomyces, Rhodococcus and Brevibacillus.
The next step took place when the researchers at UFPA’s Engbio Laboratory, led by Diego Assis das Graces, used Oxford Nanopore (United Kingdom) sequencer, which stands out for generating high quality readings, allowing the sequencing of Complex genomes with high data production and low cost. Nanopor -based sequencing technology allows for real -time analysis and direct DNA reading. In addition, its portability and flexibility make it suitable for laboratory applications and field Diego, who is one of the authors of the first article written from this phase of the research.
With this sequencing, it was possible to look at genes and understand how they act in the construction of enzymes, and the paths that make them more complex molecules. Half of them were unknown.
“These molecules are the focus of our studies, as they are of great importance for the development of drugs and medicines. For example, more than 2/3 (two thirds) of all drugs already developed in the world have origin in small natural molecules, metabolites Secondary or specialized metabolites, “explained researcher Daniela Trivella, LNBio’s drug discovery coordinator (National Biosciences Laboratory).
Data analysis was also done in LNBio and used Sirius. This sequencing is much more accessible, in terms of costs and time, than it was a decades for a decades. With this, it is possible to analyze what Trivella explained that “wild” bacteria, that is, those found in nature. The current estimate is that less than 1 in 10 wild bacteria species will be cultivable in the laboratory, and when they are less than 10% of the genes they carry are expressed in the laboratory. Everything else is “lost” to science without these state -of -the -art methods. “So, there are many bacteria we don’t know yet and many natural products that we couldn’t produce in the laboratory, or produced them at very low performance,” Daniela added.
In short, the place matters, and a lot. “Biosynthetic gene groupings are responsible for the production of substances with biological potential, such as medicines. Even in organisms already studied, such as the bacteria of the genre StreptomycesWe have seen that there are still many unknown substances in isolated specimens of the soil of the Amazon. This shows how the ecosystem is essential for new discoveries. The Amazon, in this sense, remains a rich and little explored area to develop new products, ”said another of the participants, researcher Rafael Baraúna (Engbio-UFPA), who coordinated the work by UFPA.
The final step was to take production to a laboratory scale. Understanding which genes produce each substance, with an advanced technique called metabologneomic, researchers “convinced” species of common management bacteria in the laboratory to accept these genes and produce substances, producing quantities that can be tested and worked. “With the target coding DNA, the domesticated bacteria, which did not produce the metabolite of interest, now produces it, as it artificially received the sequence of DNA we saw in the forest. Thus we have access to this molecule to develop new drugs from it .
This set of tests does not isolate one or two molecules. With all the structure of CNPEN a dedicated laboratory, such as LNBio, can perform up to 10,000 tests in a single day. This speed competes with another, voracious, that of devastation. The year 2024 has had the largest number of burning and fires in the Amazon in the last 17 years. To try to help in the science side, investments for research in the biome, announced at the last meeting of the Brazilian society for the progress of science (SBPC) They are at the level of R $ 500 million in this decade, with the potential to help value the territory and its original coverage.
As part of the targets are molecules to treat infections and tumors, the return has higher potential than the investments. “All of these methods are condensed on the LNBio-CNPEM drug discovery platform. This platform conducts research in new drugs, ranging from the preparation of biodiversity chemical libraries and selecting therapeutic targets for drug development, to molecule obtaining the molecule Prototype (the invention), which then goes through regulatory steps to reach industrial production and patients in the clinic, “illustrates Trivella. According to her the next phases of the research will take the field teams away from Belém to the Eastern Amazon. There they hope to confirm the immense potential of new molecules in the biome and begin to understand it even better.
This work is part of a greater effort to create a Multi -Disposit Center at UFPA, supported by CNPEM and national projects such as IWASA’I, recently implemented in the context of the so -called CNPq/MCTI/FNDCT No. 19/2024 – Advanced Centers in Strategic areas for sustainable development of the Amazon Region – Pro -Amazonia.
