May 18, 2003

The face of Queensland’s multi-million dollar cotton industry could be about to change, thanks to pioneering work being conducted by a University of Queensland scientist.

Professor David Craik, from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, has discovered a protein that, if inserted into a cotton plant’s gene, could protect it from the insatiable and highly destructive appetite of the Helicoverpa family of caterpillars.

Annually, these bugs eat their way through hundreds of tonnes of cotton, destroying not only the plants but the incomes of cotton growers. A natural insecticide, such as the one being developed by Professor Craik, would prove a boon for these farmers.

"Potentially the caterpillars can destroy 10 to 15 per cent of the crop so the damage it does is enormous," Professor Craik said.

"Such a gene, if inserted into the cotton, could prove a highly effective and natural insecticide, removing the need to use the chemical sprays that are of such environmental concern."

The agricultural applications of this protein have led to the establishment of a company, Cyclagen, which focuses not only on the insecticide potential of this protein in cotton crops, but will also extend the application to other crops in the future.

Using NMR spectroscopy, Professor Craik discovered that the shape of this protein was cyclical, which means there were no ends for biological enzymes to attack it and break it down. This structural aspect of the protein, coupled with another unique aspect, cystine knots, makes it very stable in biological systems.

Agriculture isn’t the only industry to benefit from the discovery. Because the protein is very stable and resistant to attack from digestive enzymes in the human body, it can be used as a framework for developing drugs that can be taken orally – drugs that would otherwise have to be injected so as to bypass the highly acidic digestive system, such as insulin.

Professor Craik began his research into the cyclic cystine knot proteins after hearing stories of women in Africa who were boiling leaves from the Kalata kalata plant to make a tea, which they drank during childbirth to accelerate labour.

He said the fact that the plant was able to withstand boiling and was highly effective when ingested by mouth sparked his interest and led not only to the discovery of the unique shape of the protein but also to the establishment of a company, Kalthera Pty Ltd, devoted to exploring the therapeutic potential of the protein shape.

Professor Craik’s work with the IMB places him at the forefront of scientific discovery as the Institute is now part of the new Queensland Bioscience Precinct at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus.

The $105 million QBP will bring together some of the country’s most cutting-edge research projects, and many successful collaborations are expected as a result of access to the suite of bioscience research facilities and expertise not found elsewhere in Australia.

The state-of-the-art facility will house hundreds of scientists from the University’s IMB, CSIRO and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. The QBP was jointly funded by CSIRO and UQ, the federal and state governments as well as funds from a private donor.