Genetic aid

Crippled Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) could be useful
in gene therapy, says Inder Verma, a
gene therapy specialist at the
Salk Institute in California, USA.
Retroviruses, the family to which
HIV belongs, are good vehicles
for delivering therapeutic genes
into cells of patients with genetic
disorders. But while retroviruses
cannot penetrate the nuclear membrane that contains chromosomes,
HIV can. A weakened form of
HIV was created by removing
its deadly genes and this modified
version was able to deliver DNA
into rats without occasioning
any harm (New Scientist, Vol150,
No 2026).