Artificial Plasmids

Scientists at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill announced this week that they have successfully inserted an artificial plasmid into a cultured human cell. Plasmids are small, circular pieces of DNA. This announcement is significant because this plasmid was approximately 20 times larger than previously used plasmids. Scientists hope this research will lead to a successful in vivo procedure.
The genes transferred were responsible for the production of Beta-globin, a component of hemoglobin. The transplanted genes also replicated when the constituent cell replicated. The DNA plasmids went from double-stranded DNA to single-stranded RNA, which indicated that the traditional protein production model was being followed.

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