Genetics news | Genetics news

"We're seeing these pictures of DNA sequences, and it hits me: There's something here.

Maybe we can make art or something." Ahmed said, sure, he could use a swab from the inside of his friend's cheek to capture some DNA, create a sequence image and then blow it up to make a really different kind of artwork.

Now, the men have quit their day jobs and work full time on their new venture.

It works like so: You order a DNA sampling kit and then send back an inside-of-your-cheek swab to the company for sequencing.

Pick a color scheme you want.

Four to six weeks later, you'll get back a high-quality print on canvas.

The price runs from $390 to $940, depending on size and framing options.

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Before HIV infects a cell, it carries its genetic material in the form of RNA, or ribonucleic acid.

Once inside a cell, the virus makes a copy of its genes in the form of DNA.

This DNA copy – known as cDNA – then travels to the cell nucleus.

There, it becomes inserted, or integrated, into the cell's DNA.

There it is known as a provirus, and it will generate new HIV in an infected patient and eventually cause AIDS.

The process of integration, which is absolutely required for a productive infection, begins with the help of an enzyme, integrase, which is supplied by HIV.

But the job is finished by DNA repair enzymes provided by the host cell.

Yoder originally wanted to identify which repair enzymes were involved.

During these experiments, Yoder learned that cells with high levels of two proteins called XPB and XPD had lower levels of HIV provirus in their chromosomes.

Both proteins help the cell repair damaged DNA.

Yoder, Fishel and their collaborators then introduced mutations into the genes for the two proteins, which crippled the proteins' ability to repair DNA.

When cells with these mutations were then infected with HIV, they showed higher levels of provirus in their...