Adeno-associated virus
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Adeno associated virus is a virus associated with Adenovirus. It is commonly called AAV. It cannot replicate on its own, it requires a cell to be co-infected with Adenovirus in order to replicate. In the absence of co-infection with Adenovirus, the AAV goes into a latent phase. It then incorporates its DNA into genome of host cell into a specific site on 19th chromosome. This latent phase makes AAV attractive for gene therapy applications as a gene of interest in AAV can persist in the host cell genome for a long period. AAV is a small parvovirus, its wildtype genome is 4.7kb. The upper limit for its use in gene therapy applications is about 4.4kb.
