Worker
honey bees have in their abdomen the venom sac composed of colorless, odorless
and watery fluid that is injected into the body of the opponent via a sting.
This venom produces irritation and a burning sensation for some time depending
on the type and species of bee. Worth mentioning here is that the venom of the
honey bee has the ability to cure many fatal diseases that were incurable up to
the start of 20th Century.
In
1998, Michael Wachinger and coworkers studied the honey bee venom and an
important protein sequence that is present in the venom called ‘Mellitin’. This
protein in honey bee has the antimicrobial activity and has the ability to
disrupt bacterial membranes thus rendering them harmless. Along with mellitin
they also studied another protein sequence called ‘cecropin’ which is found in
moths and in mammals, this also had the same function as of mellitin. Mellitin
also had the antiviral activity as the studies showed that the mellitin acts
against many retroviruses in mice and also against Tobacco Mosaic Virus. In
addition to these viruses, Wachinger and coworkers studied the effect of
mellitin against the HIV-I virus that is the cause of AIDS. In HIV-I the
mellitin caused the disruption of the viral coat protein and interfered with
the genetic product of the virus and thus suppressed the viral gene expression
lowering the HIV-I infection in human T lymphocyte cells.
Scientists
of Washington University, School of Medicine in St. Louis have recently
developed a technique to apply this naturally occurring protein sequence to the
targeted cells in the human body via nanoparticles fused with mellitin protein.
Nanoparticles are the particles of size in nanometers and one nanometer is the
1 billionth part of 1-meter object. Imagine these nanoparticles as the small
balls with attached threads of mellitin to its outer surface. These
nanoparticles have the ability to enter those parts of the body that remain
undetectable and thus mellitin could be applied to the cells that remain
undetectable. Mellitin gets attached to the coat protein of HIV viruses by
making holes in the protein coat and suppresses their gene expression. Apart
from HIV, various other diseases are also known that can be cured using bee
venom which includes Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, Multiple sclerosis and
Arthritis. Bee venom also has another chemical called Apamin that has the
ability to cause the pituitary gland to release corticotropin hormone which in
turn causes the pituitary to release cortisol which helps activate body’s own
immune response.
From
all this information what do you think Pakistani scientists must do? In my view
“due to limited resources and limited funding our research facilities need more
upgrading for such kind of experiments” and it is the phrase that our teachers
use again and again but not all laboratories are like that. In Pakistan, we
have some research institutes where such experimental works can be carried out
by young researchers. What we need is to spread the word about the importance
of honey bees and to make fresh and young scientists aware of the marvels of
nature that are currently becoming extinct due to the invasion of GM crops and
excessive use of round-up ready herbicides and other chemicals that are killing
many friendly insects and other organisms along with the harmful ones.
Monsanto
being the only top exporter of BT-cotton seeds in Pakistan has urged uneducated
farmers to grow more and get more, but I do not think that they have provided
us enough information about the fall of cotton yield a few years later, they
have not told us completely about the side effects of endotoxins produced by
BT-cotton and BT-corn on the experimental mice in labs on which they tested the
effect of GM seeds. In USA honey bees are becoming extinct due to the use of
‘Terminator Seeds’, these are the seeds from which the GM plants produced would
produce the sterile seeds, which means the next generation of seeds will not be
able to produce the further generation of seeds. By the consumption of nectar
from the flowers of such GM plants, heavy metals accumulate in the gut of the
bees and they die due to blockage. Now, what do you think why you do not get
the raw honey from the honey bee hives in Pakistan? The answer is that this is
due to the shortage of honey bees and they are very rarely seen and even in the
jungles the population of bees has been decreased. Now it is up to you whether
you like to use GM plants or depend on nature and Almighty Lord to fulfill your
needs.
I
hope that in future the work on mellitin if carried out in Pakistan will also
lead us to find the cure for Hepatitis-C as this disease is also caused due to
retrovirus (RNA virus) and it can also be cured with this natural chemical or
other useful proteins in the bee venom. After all, we must not forget this
verse of Quran:
“Then
which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny” (Surah Rahman)
