European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 18, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Shotgun s blast May Aid in genetic modification by Malcolm w. Browne new York times orking with a miniature Shotgun that blasts gone fragments Mlo the cells of living organisms scientists believe they have hit upon a Power Lul technique or engineering new forms of life Theodore m Klein and his colleagues Al Cornell University and the new York stale agn cultural Experiment station at Geneva have Buscc Sii Lully a Ioctl foreign gun clip Malonay into living onion cells hey report in he journal nature by of doing they Sny they Honvo gun Cheally mad lied the onion Colls to manufacture proteins including crystals of tobacco mosaic virus alien to the Cem natural makeup the inc to Gitsa say their novel Shotgun in Cheque May to especially useful Lor creeping improved strains of Nee wheat and Corn the world s three most important Lood crops eventually Kjems said in an interview Shotgun fired Gene implants May be inserted Anlo animal and bacterial chs As Well As Panl cells. As Klein described ithe Cornel Geno gun is based on a Gunpowder operated tool used by builders to hurl nails into Concrete Walls. The genetic material to be inserted in Iho Argel cells is first mixed in water with a Balch of microscopic Tungsten pellets each of which is roughly Lour mall months of a meter in diameter a Droplet of Ifie mixture is then placed on the leading face o a cylindrical .22-Catibcr Nylon plug which is shot Down the gun barrel by a Blank Cartridge. At the muzzle of the barrel the pug strides a Barrier thai Halls its further movement. But a Smalt Hole in tie Barrier permits passage of a blast of Gene coated pellets which % on to hit the target some Low indies away travelling Al 1,400 feet per second comparable to the Speed of pellets from a full size Shotgun. He tiny projectiles easily Pierce Lough cell Watts and carry heir charges of nucleic acid directly into the cod nuclei. Too heavy s bombardment May pc Rel Tefte Klein said the mor tatty rate increases markedly for onion cells pierced by More than about 11 pellets each. Bui with a smarter number of hits a ceh remains healthy and usually expresses the Gene tired into its nucleus Al teas on a transient basis. This Means that nucleic acid coding material shot into the Celt can compel the cell to manufacture a Polcin in Wokf not normally produce. 5chhrh�t do not yet know whether a Shotgun modified cell will Divide to create new cells thai carry me some genetic . Since they have not yet bombarded cells thai reproduce. But the Cornell group believes that the technique will yield heritable mutations As Well an transient Gene expression. Klein said his colleague John c. Santord conceived he Gene gun and de Woll and h. We helped to develop the Micro projectile system to circumvent problems posed by other methods used to insert nucleic acid in living cells. One such method b Micron Section a dry Fichtl and time consuming procedure in which the investigator must use a High Power Microscope White inserting a line capillary probe into a Celt. This usually requires the use of enzymes to strip away the eel wad covering the soft protoplast. Tie protoplast May or May not succeed in regenerating a whole cell after the mauling it has undergone. Mictobiotogist3 also gain entry into Irving celts by opening pores i cells outer membrane using electric current or by penetrating the cells with Oil particles carrying nucleic acid. A particularly profiting method for inserting nucleic acid into some Plant cells involves infecting hem with agr bacterium tume fastens a microorganism that causes disease in tobacco potatoes and other related plants. Genetically modified  organisms can Transfer nucleic add to the Host eels they attach thereby modifying the genes of the Host. But since Agi bacteria do not ordinarily infect Coin wheat or Rice we method cannot to applied to such grains the Aller native presented by the Gens gun is therefore particularly valuable our Micio projectiles have the important advantage that they can potentially Pene Rale almost any kind of cell. And they can Transfer nucleic acid to Many target cells extremely rapidly and  Klein said. We plan to lest of a lot of potential applications and we have really High Hopes for this procedure today s crossword across1 trick s 39 skating Milieu Winter 45 apiece a artrwa6zlp-ckr Bill ii veer for Coin Moore Down 1 kind of bobsled 2 clinging Foh 3 before Isuf pwt ii portfolio invert "12 draws out 43 _ 14 enter it occur 16 Suauu unat7c�r a syrian Leader Ufra Terri 20 Swedt n Nan 22i re3.i up 23 old contest9a Mother n 47 enticing unc 48 gain conscious Ness by radio tube 52 you wih eat Well Titis in but Herf Tymo Are  will Moat a All Tivvis Anlo exit Paga 18 the stars and stripes saturday july 18,1987