Exploiting the central dogma of molecular biology to

discover drugs using model organisms

The central dogma of molecular biology
Coding DNA (genes) are the preliminary building blocks inside a cell. Genes contain code for
the proteins they are expected to produce. These proteins are very important biological molecules
which carry out important biological functions inside our bodies. The process of synthesizing
proteins from a gene consists of two main steps; transcription and translation. Transcription
involves transcribing RNA (mRNA) from DNA. Translation involves synthesizing proteins from
the mRNAs obtained through transcription.
The central dogma of molecular biology (as shown in Figure 1) is this whole process of
transcription and translation (DNA makes RNA makes Protein).

Figure 1: The central dogma of molecular biology

Proteins & Diseases
When our body does not produce an ample amount of some protein, the biological functions it
carries out will be affected; thus causing diseases. When the protein required for a biological
function is produced less inside our bodies, to avoid negative medical conditions, those missing
proteins will be injected into the body.
An excellent example to explain this scenario would be the protein insulin. Insulin is responsible
for controlling the blood sugar levels. People who are unable to produce enough insulin proteins
suffer from high blood sugar (also called diabetes). To control the disease, the protein insulin
will be manually injected into the body as a drug. But, since the protein synthesis process
happens only inside an organism, an interesting question arises: how do we artificially produce
insulin proteins?

Designing drugs
If we take diabetes disease as an example, for years diabetes patients were treated with insulin
derived from the pancreas glands of animals such as pigs and cows. Although insulin derived
from these animals is similar to human generated insulin, their composition was slightly
different, causing a number of patients immune systems to produce antibodies against it. This
led researchers to focus on model organisms to synthesize human insulin based on the insulin
gene identified at that time.
Model organisms & Recombinant DNA technology
Model organisms are non-human species, which are extensively studied to understand biological
phenomenon and are used as in vivo models to experiment on human diseases. These model
organisms are identified as a possible solution to produce drugs such as insulin protein to treat
the aforementioned forms of diseases.
The central dogma of molecular biology suggests that, in order to produce a protein, the DNA
that codes for the protein should be translated and transcribed. If a drug (a required protein) is to
be produced with a model organism, the DNA coding for the required protein should be included
in the genome of that organism. In order to achieve that, the cell of that model organism will be
genetically engineered by inserting the DNA coding sequence of the corresponding gene to a
model organisms DNA molecule. The technology carrying out this process is called the
Recombinant DNA technology.
After combining the DNA sequences, the central dogma of molecular biology takes care of
synthesizing the required protein. That is, the combined DNA sequence will be transcribed to
mRNA, which will be translated to produce the proteins. The required protein should then be
isolated and purified to acquire the final outcome, which will be the medication to treat the
diseases such as diabetes.

Bibliography
http://members.tripod.com/diabetics_world/lillys_rdna_insulin.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rXizmLjegI&list=LLw_LwaVhkpDcWNO3LJpsJHg

Group Members
2009/CS/180 M. J. M. Shazan
2009/CS/128 W. L. Ranaweera
2009/S/11340 N. S. Rubasinghe