Chimeraplasty

Online Biology Dictionary

Chimeraplasty is an experimental targeted repair process in which a synthetic DNA/RNA chimeric molecule (chimeraplast) is used to repair single base pair mutations, deletions, or insertions in DNA. A desirable sequence of DNA is combined with RNA to form the chimeraplast. These chimeric molecules bind selectively to the target DNA that is to be repaired. Once bound, the chimeraplast activates a natural gene-correcting mechanism and the mutated gene is repaired. Chimeraplasty makes no use of viruses or other conventional vectors. See also: gene therapy, cloning vector.

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