Synthetic Biology in Action: Developing a Drug Against MDR-TB.

The amalgamation of the research efforts of biologists, chemists and geneticists led by scientists at the Department of Zoology, University of Delhi has resulted in the development of a novel rifamycin derivative; 24-desmethylrifampicin, which is highly effective against multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The production of rifamycin analogue was facilitated by genetic-synthetic strategies that have opened an interdisciplinary route for the development of more such rifamycin analogues aiming at a better therapeutic potential. The results of this painstaking effort of nearly 25 years of a team of students and scientists led by Professor Rup Lal have been recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (www.jbc.org/content/289/30/21142.long). This strategy can now find applications for developing newer rifamycin analogues that can be harnessed to overcome the problem of MDR, extensively drug resistant (XDR) and totally drug resistant (TDR) M. tuberculosis.