GENE THERAPY

There are several ways in which gene therapy is carried out. One way is to correct base substitutions such as Sickle Cell Anemia. In this method the erroneous base pair is corrected as follows:
· A short string of nucleotides is made called an OLIGOMER. This oligomer is exactly complementary to the section of the gene where the error is located.the only difference being that the oligomer has the right combination as found on a normal gene while the erroneous one has the error.
· The oligomer then binds to its complementary sequence on the DNA molecule, and causes a bulge due to the error.
· The cell where this erroneous gene is found has special DNA repair mechanisms that detect the bulge.
· The mechanism causes enzymes to be sent to the erroneous site, and there they substitute the erroneous base, by complementing the oligomer that has the complementary sequence for the correct base.
Below are some diagrams and a brief explanation:


Gene correction expl...