美國(guó)科學(xué)家近日開發(fā)出一種新的基因沉默技術(shù),，該技術(shù)可用于標(biāo)靶那些會(huì)導(dǎo)致疾病的基因,，并可為預(yù)防那些基因缺陷在其中發(fā)揮了作用的疾病鋪平道路。相關(guān)論文8月17日在線發(fā)表于《自然—細(xì)胞生物學(xué)》（Nature Cell Biology）上,。
領(lǐng)導(dǎo)此次研究的是美國(guó)西奈山醫(yī)學(xué)院的Ming-Ming Zhou,。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，綠草履蟲綠藻病毒（PBCV）利用病毒蛋白修改宿主DNA包裝染色質(zhì)，并轉(zhuǎn)換宿主轉(zhuǎn)錄機(jī)器開關(guān)來(lái)進(jìn)行病毒復(fù)制,?；谶@一發(fā)現(xiàn)，研究人員成功地開發(fā)出了一種新的基因打靶技術(shù),，能夠有效地抑制人類細(xì)胞中目標(biāo)基因的轉(zhuǎn)錄表達(dá),，其中包括一些與許多疾病的發(fā)作有關(guān)的基因。
Zhou說(shuō)：“通過(guò)沉默某些基因,，我們或許能夠抑制那些會(huì)導(dǎo)致艾滋,、癌癥、發(fā)炎以及中樞和周圍神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)疾病的基因,。我們現(xiàn)在知道能夠聚焦于這些基因,，并能夠潛在地改變?cè)S多疾病的最終進(jìn)程，而這些疾病正深刻地影響著人們的生活,。”（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature Cell Biology,，doi:10.1038/ncb1772，Shiraz Mujtaba,，Ming-Ming Zhou
Epigenetic transcriptional repression of cellular genes by a viral SET protein
Shiraz Mujtaba1, Karishma L. Manzur1, James R. Gurnon2, Ming Kang2, James L. Van Etten2 & Ming-Ming Zhou1
Viruses recruit host proteins to secure viral genome maintenance and replication. However, whether they modify host histones directly to interfere with chromatin-based transcription is unknown. Here we report that Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 (PBCV-1) encodes a functional SET domain histone Lys methyltransferase (HKMTase) termed vSET, which is linked to rapid inhibition of host transcription after viral infection. We show that vSET is packaged in the PBCV-1 virion, and that it contains a nuclear localization signal and probably represses host transcription by methylating histone H3 at Lys 27 (H3K27), a modification known to trigger gene silencing in eukaryotes. We also show that vSET induces cell accumulation at the G2/M phase by recruiting the Polycomb repressive complex CBX8 to the methylated H3K27 site in a heterologous system. vSET-like proteins that have H3K27 methylation activity are conserved in chlorella viruses. Our findings suggest a viral mechanism to repress gene transcription by direct modification of chromatin by PBCV-1 vSET.
