Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Bitter wild fruits can help treat cancer

Darpan News Desk IANS, 28 Nov, 2014 12:41 PM
    The compounds that give bitter flavour to wild cucurbits - cucumber, pumpkin, melon, watermelon and squash - have the potential to treat cancer and diabetes, finds a research.
     
    These compounds called cucurbitacins protect the wild plants against predators and have the potential to suppress growth of cancer cells.
     
    The fruit and leaves of wild cucurbits have been used in Indian and Chinese medicine for thousands of years, as emetics and purgatives and to treat liver disease.
     
    "You do not eat wild cucumber unless you want to use it as a purgative," said study co-author William Lucas, professor of plant biology at University of California, Davis.
     
    The researchers identified the genes responsible for the intense bitter taste of wild cucumbers.
     
    They employed the latest in DNA sequencing technology to identify the exact changes in DNA associated with bitterness.
     
    They were able to identify nine genes involved in making cucurbitacin and show that the trait can be traced to two transcription factors that switch on these nine genes, in either leaves or the fruit, to produce cucurbitacin.
     
    The new research shows how domestication tweaked cucumber genetics to make the fruit more edible.
     
    The study appeared in the journal Science.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Research offers hope for patients with cardiovascular disease

    Research offers hope for patients with cardiovascular disease
    A new research has shown a protein, which controls the growth of new blood vessels, could potentially reduce the effects of cardiovascular disease...

    Research offers hope for patients with cardiovascular disease

    Premature babies at greater risk of future hip replacements

    Premature babies at greater risk of future hip replacements
    Low birth weight and premature birth are linked to increased risk of osteoarthritis-related hip replacements in adulthood, says a research....

    Premature babies at greater risk of future hip replacements

    Nanobodies to help out in boosting immunity

    Nanobodies to help out in boosting immunity
    Targetting difficult-to-reach areas affected by disease could become a lot easier as researchers have developed a new system to make nanobodies...

    Nanobodies to help out in boosting immunity

    Cancer cell fingerprints could hasten diagnosis in kids

    Cancer cell fingerprints could hasten diagnosis in kids
    Cancers in children will be diagnosed faster and more accurately in future as researchers have identified new cancer cell fingerprints in blood....

    Cancer cell fingerprints could hasten diagnosis in kids

    Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer's

    Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer's
    Debunking a prevalent theory of Alzheimer's development, researchers have now found that it is not the amyloid-beta (A-beta) protein fragments but the...

    Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer's

    Speech analyser could reveal mental health

    Speech analyser could reveal mental health
    A programme that analyses speech and uses it to gain information about one's mental health is in the works....

    Speech analyser could reveal mental health