TWiV 66: Reverse transcription

by Vincent Racaniello on January 17, 2010

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson continue virology 101 with a discussion of information flow from RNA to DNA, a process known as reverse transcription, which occurs in cells infected with retroviruses, hepatitis B virus, cauliflower mosaic virus, foamy viruses, and even in uninfected cells.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. To receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S, visit drobostore.com and use the promotion code VINCENT.

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Download TWiV #66 (50 MB .mp3, 68 minutes)

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  • zelo
    In this episode (TWiV 66) during the turn of questions a listener was interested in the viability of a posiible therapy based on the excision of the integrated HIV provirus from the cell genome. As far as I know at least there has been a successful experiment with an evolved Cre recombinase (Tre) developed to recognize the HIV-1 LTRs and excise the DNA sequence in between. Such recombinase was then tested in human cultured cells (HeLa cells) which had been transfected with a reporter gene (luciferase) within a sequence flanked by the HIV-1 LTRs. The enzyme demonstrated to be effective and accurate selecting its target sequences. Still, as Professor Vincent Racaniello pointed out in his reply a huge difficulty to overcome would be to selectively target those cells with the HIV provirus in their genome since in a number of cells the virus can remain latent for years. The other serious obstacle is how to introduce in the body enough enzyme or expression vector to successfully reach most infected cells while keeping under control the negative side effects caused by such invasive therapy.
    For those interested in the experiments carried out to develop and test the Tre recombinase, this is the reference of the article in which the results were published:
    Sarkar et al. HIV-1 proviral DNA excision using an evolved recombinase. Science (2007) vol. 316 (5833) pp. 1912
    In that issue a short introduction commenting the experiments was also published:
    Engelman. AIDS/HIV: A Reversal of Fortune in HIV-1 Integration. Science (2007) vol. 316 (5833) pp. 1855
  • dakezhang
    can not download your great podcast from itunes...wonder if there is something wrong....
    thx...
  • I don't have a problem downloading this episode in iTunes, and it's
    already been downloaded thousands of times. I'll email you a link to
    the file if you are still having problems.
  • Dake Zhang
    Got it, thx a lot!
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