Monday, April 6, 2015

Engineers Gain Control of Gene Activity

Charles Gersbach



Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina have developed a new technology to manipulate proteins that package our DNA, and by doing so are able to turn on specific gene promoters and enhancers - DNA sequences that influence the activity of their corresponding genes. The ability to do this allows for control of gene activity. The combination of all molecules responsible for the activity of genes in the genome is known as the epigenome, and is the main subject of attention for this current research. The ability to alter the actions of the epigenome allows researchers to see what roles the promoters and enhancers play in many biological contexts, including cell fate, risk of diseases, and stem cell research.


Assistant professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at Duke University Timothy Reddy teamed up with Charles Gersbach to modify the previously established system called CRISPR to alter DNA packaging at specific sites. This process allowed not only for activation of gene promoters but also for the activation of adjacent genes. The developed method has worked better at accomplishing this task than other methods previously tried.


The true benefit to this research is the effect it may have on understanding and diagnosing modern day diseases such as neurodegenerative conditions and cancer. Many diseases are quite complex genetically, as there may be many enhancers and/or promoters that affect the activation of genes that cause the expression of a disease. Being able to isolate these enhancers and promoters in the epigenome may provide paramount insight into the treatment of modern diseases.

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