Tre recombinase is an experimental
enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...
that in lab tests has removed
DNA 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 immune ...
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 (38kDa) is a member of the integrase family of sit ...
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 type ...
, the new enzyme performs recombination at HIV
provirus sites.
The structure of Tre in complex with loxLTR has been resolved (), allowing for analyzing the roles of individual mutations.
References
External links
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{{Antiretroviral drug
Genetics
Molecular biology