Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Columbia researchers discovered that bacteria can create free-floating, temporary genes outside their chromosomes, challenging the long-held belief that all genetic instructions are contained within the genome. This finding opens the possibility that similar genes could exist in humans, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of genetics and gene editing.
“What this discovery upends is the notion that the chromosome has the complete set of instructions that cells use to produce proteins,” says Samuel Sternberg, associate professor of biochemistry & molecular biology at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the research with Stephen Tang, an MD/PhD student at the medical school.
into the bacterial genome and bacteria devise cunning methods to defend themselves. Many bacterial defense mechanisms remain unexplored but could lead to new genome editing tools. The researchers originally thought something might be wrong with their experiments, or that the enzyme was making a mistake and the DNA it created was meaningless.
The lab is now using Tang’s methods to look for human extrachromosomal genes produced by reverse transcriptases.
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