[extropy-chat] Mito news

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

I have some news for afficionados of mitochondria:

Recently at the Mitochondria and Neurodegeneration Meeting in Fort 
Lauderdale our research group at Gencia Corporation unveiled a method 
for manipulating mitochondrial genomes, protofection. I have been 
obliquely hinting at it for some time on Extropy but now I can say more: 
we can place mitochondrial genomes in living cells, in vitro and in 
vivo, including reporter genes and other genetic cargo, express proteins 
in the mitochondria, and even export them to other subcellular 
locations. We can actually stably make a huge amount of protein without 
ever entering the nucleus, or using a viral and immunogenic vector, or a 
synthetic and cytotoxic cationic lipid. This capability will be most 
salient to anybody familiar with the keywords "X-SCID", and "insertional 
mutagenesis". The research has been submitted for publication and I hope 
to be able to post the paper here as soon as it's published.

Additionally, we found that some possibilities for mitochondrial 
dysfunction treatment envisioned previously on theoretical grounds, can 
actually be made to work, at least in cell culture, and should work in 
adult mammals as well. But I will leave you guessing....

Suffice it to say that some of our wildest hopes seem to be coming true.

Rafal