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Mini chromosomes
can deliver
The 'minichromosomes', produced by scientists at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, may be the smallest artificial human chromosomes so far created. The research is published in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. "The idea is to make a chromosome that is as simple as possible," said team leader, Dr Andy Choo. "It is structurally similar to a normal chromosome, except the whole thing is much smaller." Artificial chromosomes could potentially be used to transport genes into cells, for example in human gene therapy, or in genetic modification of crops or livestock. At the moment, viruses are used for gene insertion. Using artificial chromosomes would avoid the need to insert viral DNA. To create their minichromosomes, the researchers took advantage of unique cell structures called neocentromeres - relatively new genetic phenomena which they first discovered in a five-year-old boy who was a patient at their genetic clinic about 10 years ago. They noticed an unusual structure in chromosome 10 - a scaled-down version of the centromere, which binds the two arms of a chromosome together during cell division. Other neocentromeres, as these structures became called, have since been discovered in other people and on other chromosomes. They have the same essential components as a centromere, but far fewer repetitive strings of DNA. Using a neocentromere instead of a centromere therefore made it possible to make the minichromosome much smaller than it would otherwise have been. According to Dr Choo, however, it has not been an easy task. "A good part of the 10 years has been spent doing the hack work of cloning the neocentromere and chopping its surrounding DNA down in size," he said. More
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