Adeno-associated Virus
In this part of the blog, we will talk about the Adeno-associated Virus (AAV). This virus has its genome stored in single stranded DNA.
Now this virus is really small! Much smaller than your average virus. But what makes them really special is their inability to cause diseases upon infection!
Scientists have seen this potential and have exploited it to perform gene therapy. In these therapies, AAV are used as vectors to transport genes. However, the size of the gene is is limited by the relatively short length of the AAV genome. This means the large genes cannot be transported.
This virus infects a large variety of cells and have differing replication cycles depending on the type of cell.
Image of AAV
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