HEALTH MANAGEMENT. Bright green cats are new tool in AIDS research

CHICAGO | Sun Sep 11, 2011 1: 24 pm EDT
Cats green radiant a strain of wheat with cells, infection by a virus have to CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists, the cat AIDS, noting that can help resist caused to prevent that the disease in cats and AIDS research in people advance developed.
The study, published Sunday in the journal nature methods, involved inserting monkey genes, that the virus in feline eggs or ova, to block before they are fertilized.
The scientists also eingefügten jellyfish gene that the modified cells luminaires have a eerie green colour-make easy to see the modified genes.
Show they are resistant to feline immunodeficiency virus, or FIV, which causes AIDS in cats taken from the cats tests on cells.
"The offers the unprecedented ability, which impact the AIDS protection genes in AIDS threatened animals," said Dr. Eric Poeschla the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who led the study, in a telephone interview.
Poeschla said, that in addition to humans, cats, and to a certain extent, chimpanzees, which causes only mammals that develop naturally occurring viruses, the AIDS.
"Cats of this all over the world suffer," he said.
Such as the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV in people, FIV will fight eradicate infection of T cells.
FIV infects primarily feral cats, of which there are billions in the world, half Poeschla said. It is of bite, mostly by men, transferred to the defense of their territory, but pet cats are also affected.
People and cats are proteins, as limiting factors, to combat the usually viral infection against HIV and FIV defenseless, because potent counter weapons developed the virus. But some monkey versions of this restriction can control of virus factors and one used the team gen from the rhesus monkey.
For the team, the staff in Japan, was the trick to the monkey-gen for the constraint factor-known as TRIMCyp - cats cells against infection by the virus to block.
GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN GENE
To do that it uses a harmless virus to the genes in the eggs, a process to insert that monkeys, is already mice, pigs, sheep and marmoset in other mammals.
Easier to check, what cells had the monkey-gen, the team of a green fluorescent protein gene from the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria, which glow green makes them inserted.
"We have it easy just shining a light on the animal, or under the microscope for cells."
The method worked so well that almost all descendants from the modified eggs have the restriction factor genes. And, these defence proteins are body by the cat.
The team has put two of the three original luminous green cats, the litters, a total of eight kittens, the glowing cells, as well as have created to make.
But the point is not that the generations of disease-resistant, glowing to breed cats. Rather, the team plans to study these cats as a new way to the development of treatments for HIV and the cat version of the disease.
The work researchers said several uses.
"This technology can be applied to a variety of species, of which there is a clear many applications and potential benefits are," Dr. Laurence Tiley said of the University of Cambridge, in a statement.
"It will be interesting to see what enthusiasm in cats, they receive ability and offers of HIV and the neuro-biological research communities, and other research opportunities." "A representative non-Primate animal model would be to study a fantastic new tool for HIV Pathogenesis."
Poeschla team has taken so far only cells of animals and found resistant tested against FIV. But finally they plan, set the cats with the virus and see whether they are protected.
"If you could show that you protect, which transferred these animals, it will give us a lot of information on the protection of people would," said Poeschla.
For cats result can finally be new drugs for FIV, or gene therapy, he said.

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