Plasmid in Biological News

New insights into a leading poultry disease and its risks to human health

... animals and causing disease. Over time, each plasmid becomes a patchwork quilt of DNA information, ... database. Among the disease causing parts of the plasmid pAPEC-1 are a series of genes that make up ... bacteria. By analyzing the DNA sequence of plasmid pAPEC-1 and testing the mechanism of transfer of ...

Bioclocks work by controlling chromosome coiling

... occur naturally in the cyanobacteria. Because a plasmid should behave in the same fashion as the larger ... the behavior of the chromosome itself. When the plasmid is relaxed, it is open and uncoiled and, when it ... researchers found a distinct day/night cycle: The plasmid is smaller and more tightly wound during periods ...

New paradigm for cell-specific gene delivery

... cell-specific promoter that was able to mediate nuclear targeting of any plasmid carrying this sequence uniquely in cultured smooth muscle cells but in no ... delivery can be made cell-specific by controlling the nuclear entry of plasmid DNA, and as such, establishes a new paradigm for cell-selective gene ...

Nucleonics initiates hepatitis B clinical trial with expressed interfering RNA therapeutic

... ) is an expressed interfering RNA (eiRNA)-based product consisting of a plasmid DNA construct designed to produce four short interfering RNA (siRNA) ... thereby decreasing the chances of developing drug resistance. Moreover, plasmid DNA is non-immunogenic and a stable drug format that benefits from ...

Researchers observe single protein dimers wavering between two symmetrically opposed structures

... examined a protein known as Rop (repressor of primer), expressed in E. coli bacteria, which binds to RNA to regulate the number of copies of plasmid genes produced within the bacteria. This small "homodimer" is made up of two identical hairpin coils of amino acids, and has often been used as a ...

Another JDRF partner moves research forward with collaboration agreement for diabetes treatment

... for a beta cell regenerative therapy with Lilly. Bayhill's BHT-3021 compound is now in Phase I/II clinical trials supported by JDRF, is a plasmid encoding proinsulin designed to target specific pathogenic immune cells involved in the immune response of type 1 diabetes. ...

Evolutionary origin of bacterial chromosomes revealed

... University, remarked: "The findings in this work provide substantial new evidence that second chromosomes in all bacteria studied to date have plasmid origins. While other mechanisms leading to second chromosome formation seem possible, it is intriguing that this approach has been most productive." ...

Bayhill Therapeutics and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation announce research collaboration

... require the life-long administration of insulin, which is the only approved therapy for type 1 diabetes. About BHT-3021 BHT-3021 is a plasmid encoding proinsulin designed to tolerize the immune system, thereby turning off the self directed immune attack against the islet cells. This product ...

Yamanaka eliminates viral vector in stem cell reprogramming

... the injected cells contributing to almost all cell types. Still, other problems remain to be solved. The efficiency of the gene transfer with the plasmid was lower than with the retrovirus. Nevertheless, this significant step moves us closer to realizing the promise of stem cells in the understanding ...

Intravenous gene therapy protects normal tissue of mice during whole-body radiation

... a large dose of radiation to the entire body. In the study, mice were used to test the protective effects of manganese superoxide dismutase plasmid liposome (MnSOD-PL) gene therapy on the bone marrow during whole-body irradiation. The researchers found that in a control group of mice that ...

Researchers discover important tool in understanding differentiation in human embryonic stem cells

... and other genetic means, they showed that reducing the amount of oct4 in human ES cells induced differentiation. The researchers then used a plasmid vector to transiently increase levels of oct4 in hESC. This also resulted in differentiation as expected, but with differentiation patterns similar ...

Synthetic peptide targets latent papilloma virus infections

... carries its genes in the form of a circular DNA plasmid that nestles in the nucleus of the cell and makes ... that envelop the chromosome, tethering the plasmid to the chromosomes. The new research by ... tethering to the chromosomes. By tracking the plasmid DNA in dividing cultured cells, the researchers ...

Will the plague pathogen become resistant to antibiotics?

... we've done has given us a way to monitor this plasmid in future," says senior author Jacques Ravel of ... in Rockville, MD. "The fact that we found a plasmid usually found in Salmonella in Y. pestis is a big ... in Paris. "The discovery that the multiresistance plasmid acquired by the plague bacillus is widespread in ...

'Failed' experiment yields a biocontrol agent that doesn't trigger antibiotic resistance

... different mutations into an ordinary bacterial plasmid - a routine task for the experienced scientist - ... a plasmid's genetic makeup and then transfer the plasmid into a bacterium. The host bacterium then replicates the recombinant plasmid and transfers copies of it to other bacteria in a ...

Plant wounds trigger bacteria

... A. tumefaciens employs a large tumor-inducing plasmid to do its dirty deed. The plasmid is a ring of DNA that is separate from the ... survival but is required for tumor growth. The plasmid can also transmit itself from one bacterial cell ...

Researchers test new therapy for advanced melanoma

... that electroporation is being used to deliver plasmid DNA in a gene therapy study in humans," said ... -- in this case a molecule known as a DNA plasmid that contains the gene for Interleukin-12 -- to ... applied electroporation to the site to help the plasmid move into the tumor cells. The tumor cells used ...

Enzyme delivered in smaller package protects cells from radiation damage

... To determine if the cells transfected with the MnSOD minicircle plasmid retained radioprotective capacity, they irradiated those cells as well as ... significant difference in survival between MnSOD-minicircle and MnSOD full plasmid transfected cells. According to Dr. Greenberger, whose group is currently ...

Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs

... elements from a mushroom gene. We then patch these genetic elements in the plasmid and insert it back into the bacterium," he added. The researchers then ... as the bacterium goes through its lifecycle, it transfers a portion of its plasmid out of its cell right into the mushroom cell, and integrates the ...

Silence of the amoebae

... of the gene coding for the toxic protein could be prevented by inserting a plasmid (a small loop of DNA) containing a copy of a specific part of that gene into the amoeba cell nucleus. Introducing the plasmid led to the modification of DNA "packing" proteins, causing the DNA-protein ...

Researchers offer proof-of-concept for Altered Nuclear Transfer

... To correct this, Meissner deleted the siRNA molecule by transferring a plasmid into each cell. (A plasmid is a unit of DNA that can replicate in a cell apart from the nucleus. ...

Rush Physicians Using Gene Therapy For Heart Patients With Moderate To Severe Chest Pains Who Do Not Benefit From Other Treatments

... growth factor-2 (VEGF-2) in the form of a solution containing a DNA plasmid that is delivered using catheterization to heart tissue that has been ... into the heart muscle region with inadequate blood supply. The DNA plasmid is then taken up by the middle muscular layer of the heart wall near the ...

Dual gene therapy suppresses lung cancer in preclinical test

... then confirmed these findings in the mouse studies. The nanoparticle delivery system, which the researchers have used for years, consists of a plasmid gene expression cassette loaded with DNA that encodes either the p53 or the FUS1 protein. This is wrapped tightly in a form of cholesterol to protect ...

Intravenous nanoparticle gene therapy shows activity in stage IV lung cancer

... disease. The clinical trial continues. No maximum tolerated dose has been established, Lu says. The nanoparticle delivery system consists of a plasmid gene expression cassette loaded with DNA that encodes the FUS1 protein. This is wrapped tightly in a form of cholesterol to protect it from the ...

Intravenous gene therapy protects normal tissue of mice during whole-body radiation

... a large dose of radiation to the entire body. In the study, mice were used to test the protective effects of manganese superoxide dismutase plasmid liposome (MnSOD-PL) gene therapy on the bone marrow during whole-body irradiation. The researchers found that in a control group of mice that ...

Progress made in HIV vaccine development

... and GenVec Incorporated tested two possible HIV vaccines with the hope of producing an immune response in healthy, uninfected adults. One was a plasmid DNA-based vaccine expressing genes from three dominant HIV subtypes, and the second used recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5) as a vector to ...

Study illuminates how the plague bacteria causes disease

... from one bacterial strain to another and that may confer an evolutionary advantage, such as antibiotic resistance. In the case of Yersinia, the plasmid harbors numerous genes, including a large number that contribute to the ability of diverse pathogens to deliver virulence factors into host cells. ...

UW scientists report a new method to speed bird flu vaccine production

... by the Wisconsin team improves upon a previous reverse genetics method (developed by Kawaoka's group in 1999) by significantly reducing the number of plasmid vectors required to ferry viral genes into the monkey kidney cells used to produce the virus particles to make vaccines."Compared to other types of ...

Newly discovered genetic disease sheds light on body's water balance

... He worked in the laboratory of pediatric endocrinologist Walter Miller, MD, using a method to determine cAMP levels in cells by using a luciferase plasmid that responds to cAMP. Luciferase is the substance that lights up in fireflies. Feldman showed that wild-type cells contain low levels of light ...

'EuroVacc 02' HIV Vaccine Trial Begins

... of Regensburg based on a representative Chinese subtype C isolate CN54 jointly developed with Professor Yiming Shao from the CDC Beijing. The plasmid was constructed in collaboration with Geneart GmbH - a biotech company in Regensburg Germany, and the vaccine was manufactured by Cobra ...

NIAID begins clinical trial of West Nile virus vaccine

... arm: one at the start of the trial, a second approximately four weeks later, and a third approximately four weeks after that. To help force the DNA plasmid into muscle cells, the vaccine will be administered by a needle-free injector rather than a conventional needle syringe. Volunteers will be monitored ...