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Article: After Knocking Out Genes, Rye Grass Pollen Made Sneeze-Free.
- Article from:
- BIOWORLD Today
- Article date:
- August 9, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 A Thomson Healthcare Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Nuala Moran
BioWorld International Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Australia - A number of companies have tried and failed to devise ways of preventing hay fever and allergic asthma by halting the immune cascade initiated when sufferers breathe in pollen. Further products are in development currently.
Now Australian plant scientists have applied lateral thinking to the problem and come up with a way of stopping hay fever at the source - by rendering pollen non-allergenic. They have achieved that by knocking out the genes for two proteins, Lolp-1 and Lolp-2, which are the main culprits in rye grass pollen. Pollen from the modified plants fails to ...