Viruses are nature’s Trojan horses: They gain entrance to cells, smuggle in their genetic material, and use the cell’s own machinery to replicate. For decades, scientists have studied how to minimize their deleterious effects and even repurpose these invaders to deliver not their own viral genome, but therapeutics for treating disease and tools for studying cells. To be effective in these new roles however, each virus must safely, efficiently, and selectively act on those cells in which its genetic cargo is desired. This is a task for which the natural repertoire of viruses is ill-equipped.
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Source: Phys.org