You searched for: “chimeraplast
chimeraplast (s) (noun), chimeraplasts (pl)
A synthetic molecule made up of both RNA (nucleic acid found in all living cells) and DNA (molecule that encodes genetic information in the nucleus of cells) which is used in gene repair.

Chimeraplasts are made to match the patient's sequence of base pairs (the molecular building blocks of DNA), except in one area, the area of the mutation (the change) that is responsible for the gene defect where the chimeraplasts have the correct sequence of base pairs in the DNA.

The chimeraplasts are designed to attach to the patient's DNA and to activate the DNA repair system, a system that cells normally use to correct mistakes they make in replicating their DNA.

The patient's DNA repair system is tricked into treating the chimeraplast as the correct version of the DNA and changing the patient's gene to match the chimeraplast; and so, correcting the mutation.

This entry is located in the following unit: chim-, chimer- + (page 1)