University Calendar

RABLS Talk - Betsy Martinez-Vaz, Professor of Biology and the Co-Director of the Biochemistry Program at Hamline University

Professor Betsy Martinez-Vaz will give a talk titled "Drug Eating Microbes: Wastewater Bacteria Degrade Top Diabetes Drug".

In many nations around the world, including the United States, metformin is the drug most frequently prescribed for type 2 diabetes. This medication has been demonstrated to alter the gut microbiome in diabetic patients, improving glucose metabolism. More recently, metformin has been touted as having antiviral and anti-aging properties, making it a possible treatment option for other medical conditions. Humans do not fully metabolize metformin, and its alleged "dead-end" product, guanylurea, enters municipal wastewater where it cannot be removed using traditional water treatment techniques. These substances are currently regarded as emerging pollutants after being found in surface waters all over the world. In this study, two distinct bacteria that can use metformin as their only source of carbon or nitrogen for growth were isolated and characterized. The metabolic intermediates and enzymes involved in the breakdown of metformin were identified using a variety of biochemical and genomic analyses. The results show that metformin is fully metabolized to carbon dioxide and ammonia through a pathway involving five different enzymes as well as guanylurea and guanidine intermediates. Evidence from genomic and bioinformatic analyses suggests that genes encoding metformin-degrading enzymes may be transferred among bacteria in wastewater and soil environments.
These findings have the potential to lead to the development of practical biotechnological applications to improve water treatment processes.

Location:	Wriston Auditorium
Sponsor:	Biology RABLS Talk
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