Unizulu researchers unpack decades-old protein mystery
This study shows the advancement of scientific research in South Africa, where African researchers are solving and setting new rules
UNIVERSITY of Zululand (Unizulu) researchers, in collaboration with international academics, have solved a six-decades old mystery of how electrons transfer proteins passed from bacteria to humans.
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All things on earth, from tiny viruses to bacteria, plants and animals have in common, genetic material known as DNA or RNA, which contains information that helps all things reproduce and survive.
It is believed that one of the genetic materials passed from bacteria to all living things, including humans, is the ferredoxins - proteins that transfer electrons for recycling of nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur.
Found in all living things on earth, these proteins are made of amino acids and consist of iron and sulfur atoms.
These proteins were discovered in 1962 in a bacterium. Since then, scientists around the world have been trying to solve the mystery of how these ferredoxins pass from bacteria to all things, including humans.
To solve this mystery, Unizulu researchers came up with a classification and nomenclature system for these proteins, similar to grouping humans based on their race, gender or work profession.
The researchers divided these proteins into different groups based on the arrangement of amino acids that bind to iron and sulfur atoms.
This type of grouping is the first of its kind in the world, and researchers found that while ferredoxin proteins may look the same from the outside, they are in fact very different; just as humans look basically the same but each is distinctive by having a unique face, eyes and fingerprints.
When these proteins were grouped into different subgroups, they discovered which ferredoxin proteins passed from bacteria to other living things. They discovered that these proteins also passed from one bacteria to another bacterium.
Unizulu masters students Tiara
Padayachee and Nomfundo Nzuza equally contributed to the study as first authors.
Both students are highly dedicated as they recently submitted their masters dissertations, with six research articles by Padayachee and five by Nzuza.
During their masters studies, both students individually supervised three honours projects.
Prof Khajamohidin Syed, proud supervisor of these students. hopes that one day they will make a mark in scientific research, and looks forward to mentoring them along the way.
Prof Syed said without the support of his collaborators, Prof David R Nelson of the University of Tennessee in the USA, Dr Wanping Chen of the University of Göttingen in Germany and Dr Dominik Gront of the University of Warsaw in Poland, this study would not have been possible.
He also acknowledged the SA National Research Foundation and Unizulu for funding his research.
According to Prof Syed, this study shows the advancement of scientific research in South Africa, especially bioinformatics research where African researchers are solving scientific mysteries and setting new rules.