Joyce points out that small, single-stranded, pieces of DNA produced by the technique could alter cell biology in many other ways. They can simply bind to RNA, grab other complex molecules or squeeze into an existing DNA double helix. Chen says his group has ongoing collaborations to look at these different applications. In its natural role in the cell, DNA only stores information. Before its genetic data is put to use, the DNA must be copied into RNA, which is shuttled to cellular factories to make proteins.
Proteins then provide the biochemical muscle that drives the biology of the cell.
For years, medicinal chemists have been investigating the use of these talented enzymes as drugs. But no-one had figured out how to persuade cells to make such unnatural molecules. Complex Strategy Chen's team pulled off this feat by combining a number of known genetic tricks into a complex production scheme, worthy of Heath Robinson or Rube Goldberg. They used the gene for a 40 letter DNA enzyme that chops the RNA of a cancer gene called c-raf. When the plasmid was injected into a lung cancer cell, it produced a long RNA strand containing a copy of both genes.