The function of a gene is affected by its position on the chromosome if it is in the wrong place it either will not function or can damage a cell. Trouble is, there is no way of making sure a therapeutic gene gets to the right spot. Israeli scientists have found a new type of gene carrier, or vector, which might get around this.
Ernest Winocour and his team at the Weizmann Institute and Jacov Tal of the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have looked at so-called single-minded
vectors and found a whole class of viruses that can place genes in precisely
one position. Their vectors were created using certain unique
characteristics of the infection process of parvoviruses. Namely, their
striking ability to integrate themselves into a chromosome at a single site
only avoiding the effects of random placement.
The team has studied the minute virus of mice, or MVM and worked out how it
focuses on a particular target site - it turns out that signals exchanged by
the virus and the chromosomes are needed. They are using this signalling
effect to help them target particular sites on a host chromosome and are
currently engineering cell cultures and rodent models to test the
applications.
Next item -
Gallium against malaria
This item originally appeared in the February 1998 issue of
Elemental Discoveries, David Bradley Science
Writer's science webzine.
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