LONDON (Reuters) - Japanese researchers have come up with the must-have book for scientists--a hardback edition on mouse DNA.
The 172-page encyclopaedia looks like an average book but it is printed on water-soluble paper and includes all of the 60,000 active genes in the mouse.
But instead of words, New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday it was made up of dots that hold copies of the DNA from the genes.
“To read this book, researchers punch out the paper dots containing the DNA clones -- copied from the gene expressed in mouse cells -- and dissolve them in water,” according to the weekly science magazine.
Yoshihide Hayashizaki from the RIKEN Genomic Centre in Yokohama, Japan developed the book to cut the costs of delivering genetic material to universities and biotech companies.
The sequence information is available electronically on the Internet but DNA must be sent through the post and the whole genome must be packaged in dry ice and can cost up to $5,000.
So far only 10 copies of the book have been published.
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