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Originally Posted by Nephythys
Um, the title says "Genetically Modified Cats for Sale"  |
Gene silencing is an interesting bit of science. Basically, rather than cutting genes out or modifying genes, instead it takes advantage of a strange quirk in cellular self-defense. Basically, if you insert a gene that's the combination of an existing gene + its mirror image (a common structure of viruses), there's a built in mechanism that identifies that mirror image gene as faulty and goes about destroying the product of BOTH the introduced double gene and the original gene. So it's a relatively non-invasive way of shutting of a single gene without major genetic manipulation.