Triggering genes in a flash. (Technology).Flicking a switch can now turn on much more than just the lights. Thanks to a technique developed by a team of biologists in California, a light pulse can activate or deactivate de·ac·ti·vate tr.v. de·ac·ti·vat·ed, de·ac·ti·vat·ing, de·ac·ti·vates 1. To render inactive or ineffective. 2. To inhibit, block, or disrupt the action of (an enzyme or other biological agent). 3. selected genes in cells. Sae Shimizu-Sato of the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Albany, Calif., and her colleagues rendered a yeast gene light-triggerable by splicing splicing /splic·ing/ (spli´sing) 1. the attachment of individual DNA molecules to each other, as in the production of chimeric genes. 2. RNA s. plant genes into yeast cells. Those genes included one for a light-sensitive plant protein called a phytochrome Phytochrome A pigment that controls most photomorphogenic responses in higher plants. Mechanisms have evolved in plants that allow them to adapt their growth and development to more efficiently seek and capture light and to tailor their life cycle to the , which changes shape upon absorbing certain wavelengths of red light. In one configuration, the phytochrome joins with other proteins to turn on the selected yeast gene. Switched to another shape by a dose of different red light, the phytochrome releases those partner proteins, shutting off the gene. The team described its new technique in the October Nature Biotechnology. In a commentary in the same issue, Andrew R. Mendelsohn of the Molecular Sciences Institute The Molecular Sciences Institute is an independent non-profit research laboratory that combines genomic experimentation with computer modeling located in Berkeley, California. Dr. Sydney Brenner founded it in 1996. in Berkeley, Calif., says the method may give researchers unprecedented control over biological processes such as cell communication and some enzyme functions. If so, Mendelsohn declares, "this report would seem to signal the dawn of the age of light-based biological engineering."--P.W. |
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