A single strand of plant or animal DNA may contain tens of thousands of genes, each programmed to produce a specific protein essential for the growth or survival of the organism. The challenge for geneticists is to isolate individual genes and determine their function – a painstaking process often requiring years of laboratory trial and error. Now an international research team has discovered a technique that dramatically streamlines this process for certain kinds of genes. Developed by scientists at Stanford University and Britain’s John Innes Centre, the new procedure could enable scientists to identify specific genes in a matter of months, not years. The technique, known as transcript-based cloning, is described in the March 30 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
