Monday, December 1, 2014

Bitter Food but Good Medicine from Cucumber Genetics


Chinese medical tradition and high tech genetics have come together. Indian and Chinese medication have used wild cucurbits plants such as cucumbers and squash to treat liver disease. Resent research has looked into the genes of wild cucumbers.

Scientist have identified a gene responsible for the bitter taste in wild cucumbers. The bitter taste helps protect the plant from predators. The bitter flavor in the wild cucurbits is due to compounds called cusurbitains. Resent research has found that cusurbitains can be beneficial, they were found to be able to kill or suppress the growth of cancer cells. The bitterness is known to be controlled by two genetic traits "Bi" which creates bitterness on the whole plant and "Bt" which leads to the bitterness of the fruit. 

Sanwen Huang at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Colleges used the latest in DNA sequencing technology to identify the exact changes in the DNA associated with bitterness.  They identified nine genes involved in making cucurbitacin and show that the trait can be traced to two transcription factors in leaves or fruit to produce cucurbitacin.

This study is interesting because of the possible medical benefits. By learning how cucurbitacin is produced in the plant it could make it easier for humans to produce it in large quantities. By having large quantities of this substance it can be used in clinical trails to determine if it works. If it does work it could potential be developed into a medicine.

Article:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141127212342.htm
Related article:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612419/

2 comments:

  1. I hate cucumbers and squash, but if they can help against liver damage I guess I should start eating them. I don't think we need to produce them in large quantities though.

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  2. I know many people that refuse to eat healthy because they dislike the taste of vegetables so this study has many nutritional aspects that can benefit the health of these people. America has more obese than starving so a study that can change the taste of healthy foods into foods that people would enjoy my revolutionize the health of this country.

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