Tre recombinase is an experimental
enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
that in lab tests has removed
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
inserted by
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...
from infected cells.
Through
selective mutation,
Cre recombinase
Cre recombinase is a tyrosine recombinase enzyme derived from the P1 bacteriophage. The enzyme uses a topoisomerase I-like mechanism to carry out site specific recombination events. The enzyme (38 kDa) is a member of the integrase family of si ...
which recognizes loxP sites are modified to identify HIV
long terminal repeats (loxLTR) instead. As a result, instead of performing
Cre-Lox recombination
Cre-Lox recombination is a site-specific recombinase technology, used to carry out deletions, insertions, translocations and inversions at specific sites in the DNA of cells. It allows the DNA modification to be targeted to a specific cell typ ...
, the new enzyme performs recombination at HIV
provirus
A provirus is a virus genome that is integrated into the DNA of a host cell. In the case of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages), proviruses are often referred to as prophages. However, proviruses are distinctly different from prophages and these te ...
sites.
The structure of Tre in complex with loxLTR has been resolved (), allowing for analyzing the roles of individual mutations.
References
External links
*
{{Antiretroviral drug
Genetics
Molecular biology