CHEMIST PRODUCES GENETIC MATERIAL FOR PROBING HUMAN GENOME

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A University of Arkansas professor’s research has found a method with the potential to produce large quantities of genetic information bits that may one day be used in medical procedures that save lives.

Dr. Ken Turnbull, a University of Arkansas chemistry professor, studies oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODNs). These short pieces of DNA, if modified, may be used to regulate genetic activity for potential treatment of inherited, viral or environmental genetic mutations which in turn lead to disease and sometimes death.

ODNs may one day be the keys that unlock insulin production in diabetics or blocks that turn off mutated genetic sequences.

To use such bits of genetic material as biological tools, scientists must produce the ODNs in massive quantities. Turnbull and his postdoctoral associate, Dr. Janardhanam Selvasekaran, are developing a way to do so using a small circular DNA template.

He will report their findings today (March 23) at the March meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif.

Traditionally, researchers have attempted to produce these biological building blocks using linear DNA templates, but the experiments worked only under limited conditions and were not very efficient, Turnbull said.

The circular DNA template Turnbull’s group investigated yields 100 percent of the product.

The circular template improves the binding of the ODN fragments so that the reaction to combine them into a longer ODN is more efficient, which yields more of the product. "It’s a highly efficient process over a broad range of conditions," he said. The reaction works at a variety of temperatures and pH levels. Significantly, the reaction is accomplished in water with minimal use of chemical reagents, which makes it an environmentally friendly process.

Turnbull’s system efficiently bound together two strands of material. Successively more and shorter strands are being combined using this process. The next step will be to bind multiple component pieces together in a single reaction, he said.

One day, such a reaction could be conducted on a large scale, making these potentially helpful biomolecules available for medical research and perhaps medical therapy.

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