Human cells, with their two sets of chromosomes, do not lend themselves to large-scale genetic screens as simple model organisms such as yeast have so profitably done.rnThijn Brummelkamp at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research inrnCambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues have devised a way around the problem. Using a cell line with only one copy of most human chromosomes, they inactivated various genes using a method called insertional mutagenesis. The researchers then screened cells that were resistant to particular pathogens to see which genes invaders might rely on to attack.
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