8 24 points Insulin is a commonly prescribed peptide hormone

8. (2+4 points) Insulin is a commonly prescribed peptide hormone. First generation insulin was isolated from animal pancreas. Currently, insulin is produced using recombinant technology. a) State two major advantages of using recombinant techniques to produce insulin. b) Currently several insulin analogs are being marketed. These include the \"lispro\" and \"detemir\" variants. Briefly explain how these variants are different from natural insulin and give a molecular rationale for how they achieve their function

Solution

A. (1). It doesn\'t give allergies unlike insulin made from animals due to its similarity to human body.

(2). It starts working immediately and shows its effectiveness in shorter duration of time due to being more easily absorbed.

B. Lispro manufactured by using recombinant technology. It varies from natural insulin by last but final lysine and proline residues in the C- end of the protein. Thus more monomeric insulin is made available as it prevents dimer formation.

Detemir has a fatty acid bound to lysine at B29 position. It is very quickly absorbed in the body. Its main advantage is that it controls weight gain.