New Japanese technique for extracting genes
A technique to efficiently extract and preserve genes from human and animal cells has been jointly developed in Japan by the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) and biotechnology start-up KK Dnaform.
A technique to efficiently extract and preserve genes from human and animal cells has been jointly developed in Japan by the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) and biotechnology start-up KK Dnaform.
The technology enables the extraction of genes that cause muscular dystrophy and similar chronic diseases and genes useable for regenerative medicine, which scientists have currently not been able to remove from cells. Dnaform plans to commercialise the technology by offering a gene extraction service to research institutes.
According to researchers, in studying cancer and other intractable diseases, all genes in a cell need to be extracted and stored in colon bacilli so they can be used in experiments. It has been difficult, however, to remove large genes which also decompose easily when preserved in bacilli. The new technology can extract genes three times larger than conventional methods can handle, by stabilising the function of the enzyme used in the removal.
The team has also developed a vector to prevent genes from being decomposed by colon bacilli. The stable enzyme improves gene extraction efficiency, cutting the cost of extracting all kinds of genes by up to 80%.