An artificial chromosome is a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) containing structure that is assembled from many different components of naturally occurring chromosomes.
Chromosomes are located in an organelle called the nucleus that is found in almost every cell. Chromosomes contain DNA tightly packaged in order to conserve space. Chromosomes are unwound during gene expression, which produces proteins. Recently human artificial chromosomes (HAC) have come into the forefront of gene therapy. Gene therapy—the transfer of corrected gene to cells with an endog…
Human artificial chromosomes must contain the same essential functional and stabilizing regions as do normal chromosomes. They must, for example, contain telomeric regions at the end of each the chromosome strand. Telomeres consist of DNA and associated proteins that function to protect chromosomes from breaks and other forms of damage. Another important element that must be present on every HAC i…
The importance of centromeres was discovered by Australian scientist Andy Choo from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia while he was studying the genome of a developmentally delayed 5-year-old child. He observed that the tip of chromosome 7 had been broken off in all the cells he studied. Normally, fragmented DNA broken off from chromosomes gets lost or extruded from t…
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