Genetic Material

Scientists at UCLA have shown for the first time that two non-lethal strains of a virus can combine their genetic material inside an infected host to produce a virus that is lethal. The implication of this work, according to Dr. Jack G. Stevens, chairman of microbiology at UCLA Medical School, is that it suggests a second way that "new" viruses arise in nature. Until now, it has been generally assumed that mutation is the way this occurs.

It's not often that the Department of Homeland Security makes it into a science blog, but this is an unusual week. The department announced this week that it has developed the first vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease that can be manufactured and licensed in the United States and that could be used in the event of an outbreak of the disease in this country. "This is the biggest news in [foot-and-mouth disease] research in the last 50 years," said veterinarian Lawrence Barrett, director of the department's high-containment Plum Island Animal Disease Center on the tip of Long Island, N.Y. The licensed vaccine is effective against only one strain of the virus, but vaccines against the other strains are already in development.

Scientists have pulled off the equivalent of stealing an enemy fort's blueprints: They've deciphered all the genetic material of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. That should help researchers develop new drugs and vaccines by exposing potential targets within the germ. The accomplishment is reported in today's issue of the journal Nature by scientists in the United States, England, France and Denmark. The scientists found about 4,000 genes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Genentech Inc., the world's No. 2 biotechnology company by sales, said it intends to appeal any unfavorable ruling in a trial over patent-infringement claims made by the University of California. Lawyers are scheduled to present closing arguments today in the trial, which stems from a 1990 lawsuit. The suit alleges that Genentech's human growth hormone treatment Protropin was developed using stolen proprietary technology developed at the university and protected by a 1982 patent.

In findings that may represent a breakthrough in the treatment of hepatitis C infection, researchers have reported that weekly injections of an experimental medication that denies the virus a foothold in the liver substantially drove down subjects' viral loads after five weeks of treatment. Fourteen weeks after the injections ended, researchers found that five of 18 infected subjects getting the medication's higher doses showed no detectable trace of infection. The new study describes a treatment approach that could outsmart the hepatitis C virus's penchant for developing resistance to existing drugs and "provide curative therapy to a large proportion" of the 170 million people in the world who are infected with the virus, wrote Harvard University physician Dr. Judy Lieberman and Dr. Peter Sarnow of Stanford University.

At a time when so many people are trying to clean out their systems with detoxifying pads, pills and gadgets, let's take a moment to honor the liver, the best detox device a body can have. Without prompting, the liver breaks down and dispenses with all sorts of toxic compounds, including alcohol and acetaminophen. Anyone who is truly interested in removing poisons from the body should probably spend less time applying detoxifying pads and potions and more time protecting their liver. One way to give your liver a lift is to avoid bombarding it with too many poisons in the first place.

The Berlin Patient, the only person considered cured of HIV, may soon have some company. Researchers at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., made presentations Thursday on two HIV-positive men from Boston who developed lymphoma. In both cases, their treatment included a bone marrow transplant, which results in a new immune system. The bone marrow donors did not have HIV. The patients were conditioned for their transplants with a reduced-intensity protocol that allowed them to maintain enough strength to continue taking antiretroviral drugs to keep their HIV in check.

Molecular biologist J. Craig Venter's announcement last week sounded like something out of a science-fiction film (or a Michael Crichton thriller): His team created living bacteria cells from genetic material designed by computer and assembled in a laboratory. Venter didn't exactly pull a Dr. Frankenstein — bacteria aren't complex organisms, and Venter's team didn't start completely from scratch. Still, his feat raises difficult questions about the expanding boundaries of science and the nature of life.

A small amount of genetic material matching Phil Spector's DNA profile was found on Lana Clarkson's left breast, a courtroom expert testified Tuesday. But his genetic profile was not detected on the revolver used to shoot the actress, a Los Angeles County criminalist testified in the murder trial of the legendary record producer. Sheriff's criminalist Steve Renteria also said DNA matching Lana Clarkson's genetic markers was found in Spector's groin area.

A nonprofit group that says it promotes forests by cloning America's biggest and oldest trees arrived in eastern California Tuesday to claim a crown jewel. In a stealth operation with the cooperation of the U.S. Forest Service, the tree advocates ventured into California's White Mountains to the home of Methuselah, a 4,768-year-old bristlecone pine recognized as the oldest known living tree.