Patent ID: 7846729

Claim:
A method for preparing a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV), the method comprising: 1) incubating a host cell under conditions that allow AAV replication and encapsidation, wherein said host cell comprises: (a) a rAAV vector comprising a heterologous nucleotide sequence and one or more AAV inverted terminal repeat (ITR) sequences flanking said heterologous sequence, wherein the vector is less than about 2.5 kb, and (b) AAV rep function, AAV cap function, and helper virus function for AAV; and 2) purifying rAAV particles produced from the host cell, wherein the rAAV particles comprise a rAAV genome which forms intrastrand base pairs along its length, such that expression of a coding region of the heterologous sequence is enhanced relative to a rAAV vector that lacks sufficient intrastrand base pairing to enhance said expression.