Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part A (2024)

Yeast has been reported to have several similarities with the human genes and have been included in the study of several diseases including cancer related pathways. Several naturally available phytochemicals and bioactive compounds have the ability to fight against the metastasized cancer cells. This study investigated the potential of an isoquinoline alkaloid - berberine to suppress the high proliferation rate of the budding yeast cells by down regulating the Ras gene which is responsible for the catalyze of GDP to GTP. The objectives included the inducement of high proliferation of the budding yeast cells by increasing the glucose concentration in the media and treating the cells with the drug of interest berberine chloride and analyzing the reduced growth rate through cytotoxicity assays. The ability of the berberine chloride to scavenge the free radicals generated has been studied through DPPH assay. Various cell viability assays have been carried out to investigate the cytotoxic effects of berberine chloride. Molecular docking studies have been done to investigate the protein- protein interaction and to check the binding score of the ligand-protein binding interaction. RNA was isolated from the drug treated yeast cells and in-silico PCR was carried out using specific primers. Molecular specific docking was carried out to know about the binding specificity of the proteins involved.