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I wonder how many more diseases "junk" dna could fight once discovered an unlocked in a similar fashion. Science is amazing, do you hear this God! (only kidding
)Scientists discover gene in dna that fights HIV, able to turn it on
- Thread starter mrk
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I wonder how many more diseases "junk" dna could fight once discovered an unlocked in a similar fashion. Science is amazing, do you hear this God! (only kidding
)
This has the potential to go horribly wrong though.
What you have to realise is that a lot of the non-encoding or "junk" DNA (as it was originally called) is comprised of old viral DNA from previous infections our ancestors had and have been passed on.
The ability of DNA to be able to retain this is amazing, but there's the risk of "switching on" an ancient virus or a mutated version whilst using gene therapy which is scary enough as it is.
What you have to realise is that a lot of the non-encoding or "junk" DNA (as it was originally called) is comprised of old viral DNA from previous infections our ancestors had and have been passed on.
The ability of DNA to be able to retain this is amazing, but there's the risk of "switching on" an ancient virus or a mutated version whilst using gene therapy which is scary enough as it is.
Very basically, each gene encoding a protein has a "start" signal and a "stop" signal, telling the protein translation machinery where to start and stop when stringing together amino acids.
Usually with a dormant gene, they're missing the start codon so the protein won't be made
Link to a small internal summary
Link to the paper
Interesting (though in depth) read, that. Having had a quick scan, I couldn't quickly see how they were going to target/control the read-over mechanism, which is potentially a relatively dangerous thing to have on the loose in the genome.
Link to the paper
Interesting (though in depth) read, that. Having had a quick scan, I couldn't quickly see how they were going to target/control the read-over mechanism, which is potentially a relatively dangerous thing to have on the loose in the genome.
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We’re living in an awesome time, our generation will grow old having witnessed a recession that spanned the globe, disease that caused a pandemic, cure for HIV, global warming and its ever changing face, not seeing the world end in 2012 D), war on terror, black presidency, the power of the internet (Time 100 most influential people no:1 spot going to Moot of 4chan for example) and much much more.
I can’t imagine any future generation living through so many twisty times!
D), war on terror, black presidency, the power of the internet (Time 100 most influential people no:1 spot going to Moot of 4chan for example) and much much more.I can’t imagine any future generation living through so many twisty times!
That is a remarkable piece of work. If they can iron out the obvious problems with the control mechanism to control the re-activation of junk genes, then this offers the possibility to eradicate HIV in a single generation. Wow!
I would be curious to know if the persons identified in Africa who have proven to be immune to HIV infection have, by some fluke, got an active retrocyclin gene.
C.
I would be curious to know if the persons identified in Africa who have proven to be immune to HIV infection have, by some fluke, got an active retrocyclin gene.
C.
We’re living in an awesome time, our generation will grow old having witnessed a recession that spanned the globe, disease that caused a pandemic, cure for HIV, global warming and its ever changing face, not seeing the world end in 2012
I can’t imagine any future generation living through so many twisty times!
Whilst I see your point, my grandmother died recently at the ripe old age of 101. In her time she witnessed 2 global wars, the rise of the cars, trucks and aircraft, global travel at previously unheard of speeds, the advent of computers, mobile phones, television etc. I think it is a symptom of generational-arrogance that we believe that no-one else could possibly see changes anywhere near as major as ours. I bet if we could move forward 100 years we'd think again.
