Tripping Up Avian Flu

April 30, 2008 | Source: Science News

Researchers at the Chinese National Research Center for Wildlife Born Diseases have made plasmids–small rings of designer DNA–that they say can block the bird flu virus from reproducing in cells.

Once inside cells, the plasmids make short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), sequences that exactly match part of a gene in the virus’ genome. When the virus tries to replicate, the siRNAs can recognize and disable the gene, preventing replication.

Previous research attempted to use adenoviruses instead of plasmids to carry the siRNAs into the animals’ cells. However, adenoviruses are often destroyed by the immune system or can insert DNA into the cells’ chromosomes. Plasmids avoid these problems.