Breakthrough discovery
A gastronome will cut open the prickly sea urchin and eat its delicate roe. For scientists at St Andrews University, its delicacy is in holding a genetic code identical to that seen in many human viruses. These scientists are aiming to use this discovery to develop a technique for encouraging regeneration responses in human cells and could lead to developing a cure for major diseases, such as Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's and heart disease.

Martin Ryan, Professor of Translational Virology, and his team at the University of St Andrews, discovered a particular genetic sequence, called 2A, in the protein molecules of the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV). The sequence found in 2A could be used to return cells to a stem-like state. They used this sequence to search biological databases for matches.

Evolved to fight infection
Similar structures were found in the viruses of insects and shrimps for example, but they also found it present in the genetic structure of marine organisms such as the sea urchin and sponge. Ryan says, ‘Interestingly, we find that the types of cellular genes in which we find these 2A-like sequences, are used to fight infection. In these marine organisms we have 2As in both the infectious agents and in the cellular genes evolved to fight infection!’

Using a technique called ribosome skipping to control how proteins are made they discovered that it is a process found in normal cells, not just a property of viruses. This technique means that a single gene can be created containing different genes with the potential to regenerate damaged tissue.

Numerous applications
He explains, ‘we can use this trick we have learnt to our advantage: for many human gene therapies or biotechnological applications, it is necessary to be able to co-express many different proteins in the same cell. We can do this by turning many different genes into a single, 'concatenated' gene - each sequence linked via a 2A. This means a single gene can be used to give rise to multiple, different, proteins.’

Their research on 2A has already had an impact in the fields of bioimaging, artificially producing human stem cells for cancer treatment and immune response therapies. Since these sequences work in all animals and plants, it is also valuable for genetic modification work. Now the spiny sea urchin can play its part.