In addition to its famous post-Thanksgiving side effects, tryptophan performs key functions that many people aren't aware of. Chiefly, it is a building block for all proteins. Without it, people would have a hard time sleeping, growing or converting food into energy. It is essential not just for humans, but for other organisms like bacteria and fungi as well.
Understanding how to stop disease-causing organisms from making their own tryptophan could enable an entirely new class of treatment drugs. "The cells in our body don't make tryptophan—we have to consume it. But bacteria make their own and if that process gets shut down, they will die," said Jacob Holmes, first author and graduate student in Chemistry.
"So, if we could ingest something that shuts down the enzymes in their bodies making tryptophan, it would not affect our cells but would potentially kill the invasive bacterial cells," he said.
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