Investment in science should be broad, as you never know what treasures may be discovered, a National Science Council (NSC) sponsored researcher said yesterday.
“In-depth biodiversity research should be encouraged,” said Grace Lo (羅竹芳), professor and dean at National Taiwan University’s College of Life Sciences.
Lo’s comments were based on her research on white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in shrimps. In finding a cure for WSSV, Lo discovered a protein in the virus called ICP11 that could help kill tumor cells in humans.
The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in December.
WSSV has caused serious economic losses, and can wipe out a whole pond of shrimps in a week. Lo’s team began to study WSSV, hoping to find a cure.
“The WSSV genome is composed of some 500 proteins. What is interesting about the virus is that most of these proteins are unique and therefore their functions are unknown. As such, it is globally acknowledged that these proteins merit research,” Lo said.
Lo’s team identified ICP11 as its first target, as the commonest protein in the WSSV genome.
Last year, Lo’s team joined forces with Academia Sinica vice president Andrew Wang’s (王惠鈞) lab. Wang contributed to a defining breakthrough when he identified ICP11 as a “DNA mimic protein,” meaning that it looked and functioned like DNA, Lo said.
“This finding alone is invaluable — to date, fewer than 10 DNA mimic proteins have been identified worldwide ... I began to ponder why ICP11 looks like DNA and what function it serves,” she said.
Lo found that in vitro, ICP11 binds with histones, proteins that enable the compaction of DNA strands into chromosomes and give chromosomes their shape.
In other words, ICP11 competes with cell DNA to bind with histones and, “without histones, DNA strands will unwind, and the cell will die,” Lo said.
While in vitro histone proteins have similar attributes to ICP11 and DNA strands, Lo said she suspects that in vivo ICP11 is capable of ripping off histone proteins that are already attached to DNA strands.
The finding could contribute to the development of a whole new variety of cancer drugs, as all tumor cells have DNA, and a drug that disassembles DNA would be deadly to all of them, Lo said.
Lo said her team was working on finding way to get ICP11 to function in the body, but her interest in WSSV will not end there.
“WSSV may be a treasure trove — we have identified another 10 proteins in it that are worth researching, just like ICP11,” she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as