BrainStuff Classics: Could Platypus Milk Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Disease?

For everything that's weird and wondrous about the platypus, we probably shouldn't be surprised that its milk may help save countless lives, but here we are. Learn how in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/platypus-milk-best-hope-against-post-antibiotic-future.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. In today's episode is a
classic from our archives. In this one, we discuss the
charmingly bizarre platypus and how it's milk maybe humanity's best
hope against an antibiotic resistant future. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here.

(00:25):
In the late eighteenth century, British zoologist George Shaw was
asked to examine a specimen of a newly discovered creature
fresh off the boat from Australia. He was one of
the first scientists to clap eyes on the beaver duck
that we call a platypus, and he understandably thought he
was the but of a practical joke. He wrote, after
examining the noble creature, it naturally excites the idea of

(00:47):
some deceptive preparation by artificial means. And it's not like
the platypus's outlandish appearance is just a cover for an
unremarkable physiology and life history. This egg laying mammal use
its food with gravel because it lacks teeth. In fact,
it doesn't even have a stomach, but an esophagus that
connects directly to its intestines. The males have venomous spurs

(01:09):
on their hind legs, and they don't use their tails
to steer or propel themselves through the water, but to
store body fat. And their bills are so sensitive that
they can detect the electromagnetic fields radiated by other organisms,
allowing them to swim with their ears, eyes, and nose closed.
But listen, y'all, it gets weirder. Platypuses, and yes, you

(01:30):
can also say platypi or platipodes if you want. Nurse.
They're young, but they don't have nipples, so the milk
to sort of oozes out of their mammary glands and
the babies lap it up off their mother's fur. And
if you think that might be a bit on sanitary,
especially for an animal that swims around in farm ponds
all day, you'd be right. But don't worry. Platypus evolution

(01:51):
came up with a solution to the problem of bacteria.
Study found that while all mammals milk has antibacterial properties,
platypus milk seems to have very special antimicrobial powers. A
study published in March in the journal Structural Biology Communications
reports that the biochemical reason for the germ busting properties

(02:11):
of platypus milk is predictably weird. It contains a protein
with a unique and previously unknown structure that might be
key in fighting bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics.
What makes this monotream lactation protein or MLP so strange
is its shape. Its folds form tight ringlets, which is
why it was Christian to the Shirley Temple protein after

(02:34):
the iconic care of the child Star. The research team
managed to recreate the MLP in the lab, purify it,
crystallize it, and then use X rays to determine its
three D structure at the atomic level, a structure that
has never been seen in any of the hundred thousand
proteins discovered to date. Lead study author Janet Newman said,

(02:54):
the most exciting thing for me was to see a
protein shape that had never been seen before. It's like
being a florist in seeing a completely new flower. So
how could this fancy new antibacterial protein be used to
fight superbugs? According to Newman, the research team plans to
begin by figuring out the relationship between the extra curly
form of the protein and its bacteria killing powers. She said.

(03:17):
In theory, there are a number of approaches. We could
tweak the structure a little by making site directed mutants
of the protein in the lab. This would allow us
to see how the activity changes each time until we
build up an understanding of the mechanism of how this works.
Or maybe we could use some form of the protein
to try to isolate its binding partner on the bacterium,

(03:38):
which might be some structure on the outside of the bacterium.
According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistant bacterial infections
are becoming a serious threat to public health worldwide. The
heavy use of antibiotics and intensive animal farming, as well
as overuse in human hospitals, has led to the rise
and spread of these heavy duty microbes. Diseases like salmonella, pneumonia, tuberculosis,

(04:01):
and gnarrhea, all once easily treated with antibiotics, are becoming
less responsive to the drugs used to treat them. In
the World Health Organization warned that we may be approaching
a post antibiotic era, wherein antibiotics will no longer be
effective in fighting infection. This would make everything from childbirth
to organ transplants very difficult again, but maybe platypus milk

(04:24):
can help. It's predictably so crazy that it just might work.
Today's episode is based on the article Platopus milk Our
best hope against an antibiotic resistant future on how stuff
works dot Com, written by Jesslyn Shields. Brain Stuff is
production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler clang Or

(04:47):
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app,
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