The golden age of the golden fiber (jute) has started coming back in the golden days of information technology. Scientist Mubarak Ahmed Khan has shown the way to make polythene and corrugated sheets from jute after unveiling the genome sequencing of jute by late scientist Maksudul Alam. This time, the scientists of Bangladesh invented a way to make life-saving antibiotics from that jute.
More than 50 microorganisms or bacteria live in different parts of jute. However, microorganisms with this antibacterial gene have been found in jute seeds. This bacterium, called Staphylococcus hominis, produces something from its own body that kills other bacteria. And that’s where the search for this new antibiotic comes out. Which can save the lives of many patients who have antibiotic resistance (in whose body the antibiotic is no longer working). The new antibiotic has been named ‘Homicrosin’ keeping similarity with the scientific names of bacteria and jute. Scientists say there is evidence that it works well against a number of powerful bacteria.
A team of researchers led by Professor Hasina Khan and Professor Riazul Islam of Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Dhaka University and Mohammad Professor Aftab Uddin of the Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology took part in the study on making antibiotics from jute.
The research team of scientists includes some students and members of the Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR). They are Shammi Akhter, Mahbuba Ferdous, Badrul Haider, Al Amin and AHM Shafiul Islam Mollah.
Aftab Uddin, a professor in the Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, said in response to a question about how the antibiotic bacteria were found: The students used jute seed antibiotics to find out the cause when they were repeatedly exposed to jute DNA in lab tests.
“There are five variants of antibiotics,” said the researcher, who studied sleepless nights to get to the edge of the problem. They have finished work on two of them. More work is going on with the remaining 3. The researcher hopes that the invention will pave the way for a drug that will do great work against the bacteria of the future.
However, to bring this facility to the practical stage, `now funding is essential to go to the clinical trial’, said another member of the research team. Mohammad Reazul Islam. He said, We already have started our communication to get a fund from pharmaceutical companies.
Meanwhile, after the groundbreaking research report was published in the journal ‘Scientific Report’ of Nature Publishing Group on May 26, the bacterium developed from jute seeds is giving new hope to the world as an effective antibiotic.