Scientists have discovered an enzyme that can digest the protein of mad cow virus
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Last Update: 2002-03-08
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Source: Internet
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Author: User
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Introduction: Shi Jiaxing, a Chinese American scientist and professor of biology at North Carolina State University Raleigh, found that an enzyme that can decompose chicken hair may be used to "digest" toxic proteins that cause mad cow disease and human Creutzfeldt Jakob disease In his research, Professor Rey Shi found that a kind of keratinase secreted by Bacillus subtilis can decompose chicken hair, which can be digested and absorbed by chickens and can help them grow Because the keratin in chicken hair is the same beta structure as the virus protein that causes mad cow disease, Professor Shi thought that keratin might be able to deal with mad cow disease His experiments with a professional BSE testing agency in the Netherlands showed that keratinase could indeed destroy the toxic protein and make it unable to infect Rey recently, Dr Shi Quan, a biology doctor graduated from North Carolina State University, founded a company called "biological resources", which has obtained the patent right to use keratinase from North Carolina State University, and has begun to study the commercialization of keratinase Professor Shi said that they plan to use the patented technology to develop two kinds of products, one is to dissolve the toxic protein in animal meat and bone meal feed, and the other is to prevent medical devices from being infected by the toxic protein after surgery Rey toxin protein can't be killed by high temperature cooking or chopping It can only be destroyed by burning Now the hospital needs to destroy the whole set of medical equipment after finding the patients with Keya's disease in the surgical operation, which is expensive Mad cow disease scare has also led to many countries to ban animal meat and bone meal feed, causing huge losses to the feed industry Professor Shi said their technology will help solve these problems Rey
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