Rohan Patil/Sandbox1: Difference between revisions

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Rohan Patil

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+[[Image:taxol.png|frame|Paclitaxel (Taxol)]]
 A [[CBI Molecule]] being studied in the  [http://www.umass.edu/cbi/ University of Massachusetts Amherst Chemistry-Biology Interface Program] at UMass Amherst and on display at the [http://www.molecularplayground.org/ Molecular Playground].
-Many bacteria can "smell" their surroundings and "choose" where to go. They detect molecules such as amino acids or sugars using receptors that bind these molecules and transmit a signal into the cell. This signal controls several proteins which ultimately control the direction of rotation of the motors that rotate the flagella. One direction causes the cell to continue swimming; the other direction causes the cell to tumble. When an attractant molecule binds, the receptor signals: "Things look good, keep swimming!" The opposite signal occurs when bacteria sense a repellant or less attractant molecules: "Time to tumble and try a new swimming direction."
+Paclitaxel, also called as Taxol, is a plant derived anticancer drug. It was first isolated from the bark of Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia. It has been FDA approved for the treatment of ovarian, breast and non-small cell lung cancer. Taxol binds to the ends of microtubules and inhibits further microtubule elongation.  This prevents the cell from dividing and causes the cell to die. Because cancer cells divide much quicker than normal cells, taxol predominantly attacks tumors.
+Presently, taxol supply is made available either through a semi-synthetic route using precursors isolated from needles of yew species or through Taxus cell suspension cultures. Taxus cell suspension culture is an alternative to stripping bark from Taxus trees and extracting precursors from needles.
-A bacterial chemotaxis receptor is an unusually long alpha-helical structure. The attractant molecule (the ligand) binds near the top of this picture and sends a signal across the membrane into the cell to control proteins that bind near the bottom. This is a model of the structure of the receptor based on experimental structures of pieces of related proteins.