Engineering Host Resistance to Pestilence
Genetic engineering can be used to integrate resistance into organisms against disease, infection and pestilence. At the University of California, researchers in the Department of Plant Sciences have explored the viability of using RNA interface molecules in engineering resistance to pests in the Triphysaria pusilla plant, which is an annual herbaceous plant native to North America. The researchers investigated the process of inserting a double-stranded hairpin RNA molecule with a targeted resistance against the pest genome into a bacterial plasmid.
Plasmids can be used in the process of engineering resistance in a host cell. Restriction enzymes are used to recognise and cut a section of DNA or RNA that encodes for resistance. This section of DNA or RNA (in this case, a section of RNA) is then inserted into a plasmid, which is a double -stranded, circular DNA molecule occurring naturally in a bacterial cell and these two are ligated together. The plasmid is then inserted into a new host cell (that requires resistance) and the host cell acquires resistance to the particular pathogen, pest or disease that the plasmid encodes for.
This process was used by the researchers to encode resistance in the Triphysaria pusilla plant for a number of pests that threaten its survival. This study is important as it can lead to reviews of methods used in gene technology to modify the genotype of a particular cell. It differs from other methods as it is more capable in identifying the pest genes that need to be silenced to ensure resistance and the correct sequence of RNA that will ensure these genes are silenced. It may lead to advances in plant gene manipulation which could have possible implications in many other fields.
References:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122211043/abstract
http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=j2BNM6Bv_BEC&printsec=frontcover#PPA88,M1
http://www.premedcentral.net/html/genetics/genomics/cloningdna.html
Jessica Greaney: s4202747
