Vitamin A deficiency: A Permanent Cure

Vitamin A deficiency: A Permanent Cure By Emory Sabatini Photo from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carrots_without_stems.JPG

Vitamin A • Essential nutrient for animal life • Good for immune system and overall vision • Found preformed in fruits and vegetables, or in beta-carotene form in orange organics • Created w/in the body when… With help from Beta-carotene 15,15’-monooxygenase enzyme Oxygen molecule 2 retinal (vitamin A) molecules Beta-carotene

Vitamin A deficiency • Happens when not enough preformed vitamin A or Beta-carotene is obtained through diet, so not enough vitamin is found/produced in the body • Symptoms include: • Night blindness • Xerophthalmia • Keratomalacia • Permanent blindness • Death

Deficiency statistics • Is the most common and most deadly (if left untreated) vitamin deficiency in the world • Occurs in one-third of children, half of whom go permanently blind, and has caused fifty-million deaths worldwide • Most common in Southeast Asia and Africa Xerophthalmia – one’s inability to produce tears due to vitamin A deificiency (seen internationally) Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subconjunctival_hemorrhage

Current treatments • Vitamin supplementation – through vitamin A pills or food fortification (adding of micronutrients to foods) to force the body to absorb the preformed vitamin • Dietary changes – eating foods high in Vitamin A or beta-carotene • The only problem… Prenatal vitamins, which are high in Vitamin A None of these solutions are permanent or work in a long term setting! Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_vitamins

New treatment design • Genetically engineered E. coli (bacteria found in the intestine of humans) to consistently produce beta-carotene • The beta-carotene 15,15’-monoxygenase enzyme is produced in the small intestine, so the E. coli would be placed there • Bacteria would thrive in the gut and would nourish the host for much longer than vitamin supplementation pills/foods

Mevalonate Pathway • Is the biosynthesis pathway for beta-carotene (among other molecules), which leads to the production of Vitamin A • The genes that control the process of this pathway would inserted or turned on inside of the E. coli • Vitamin A would be consistently produced inside of the host body!

Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ HMG-CoA_reductase_pathway

Sensors • Vitamin A sensors and beta-carotene sensors would be present in the bacteria to avoid overdose of certain chemicals

Advantages • This is permanent – the host will probably never have to worry about Vitamin A deficiency for the rest of his/her life • So I think……………… • The host will only have to use this treatment once in their lifetime – a bottle of these pills could supply several families for the rest of their lives • So I think………………

So I think… • While I said this could be permanent and would only have to be taken once… • I don’t know! • The bacteria may not live forever in the gut, but they will thrive longer than vitamin supplementation will keep someone alive • Because of this, the treatment may have to be used periodically in some people

Potential problems • Overdose – while the sensors on the bacteria should be able to control this, overdose is still possible as they may produce to much beta-carotene or Vitamin A • Infection – E. coli are harmless in most situations. But, the bacteria should still be able to be prone to antibiotics in case something goes wrong

Testing • The bacteria would be inserted into the host body. • The host would e monitored closely for overdose • The host would be aloowed to eat foods whenever so long as they do not contain Vitamin A or beta-carotene • Periodically, the host would be feed Vitamin A/beta-carotene rich foods and monitored closely for overdose

Thank you!!!!!

Vitamin A deficiency: A Permanent Cure