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Keele, UK,
7th April 2006 - Cobra Biomanufacturing plc (AIM:
CBF), the international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, today
announces the development of a new method for inserting or deleting genes
in bacteria; the Xer-cise technology. This work is described in the
current edition of the prestigious international peer reviewed science
publication Applied and
Environmental Microbiology. Xer-cise was developed in Cobra’s
research laboratories over several years and enables genes to be switched
in and out of bacterial chromosomal DNA cleanly and more efficiently than
current methods. Gene insertion and deletion is particularly problematic
in the more novel species of bacteria of industrial interest such as
Bacillus. Xer-cise is of generic utility and is simple to employ.
David Thatcher, Chief Executive of Cobra Biomanufacturing commented: “Much of Cobra’s work for our international client base is underpinned by the application state of the art genetic engineering methods to the development of their products. Xer-cise is a novel methodology invented by Cobra which will translate into accelerated drug development for our customers”.
-Ends-
Notes To Editors:
About Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc
Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc is a leading
international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals to the life science
industry. Founded in 1992, Cobra provides innovative manufacturing
solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry covering recombinant protein
products, virus, DNA and cellular therapeutics. Cobra was the first
company to develop GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standard DNA
manufacture in Europe, with specific expertise in DNA medicines.
A range of unique, patented technologies, underpins this revenue generating business.
Cobra floated on the Alternative Investment
Market of the London Stock Exchange in June 2002 raising £7 million and
raised a further £5.2 million in May 2003 in order to further expand
capacity in Oxford UK.
About Gene Integration
Bacteria such as Escherichia coli are
very important to the biopharmaceutical industry for production of a range
of therapeutics, and are genetically engineered to improve product yield
and purity. This involves inserting foreign genes and deleting other
genes. Current approaches for inserting genes into or deleting genes from
bacterial chromosomes rely on the use of antibiotic resistance genes to
identify the cells containing the new mutations, as unmodified cells are
killed in the presence of a selective antibiotic. However, these
antibiotic resistance genes remain on the chromosome, resulting in
antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the risk of resistance gene transfer to
pathogenic organisms, thus making them unsuitable for the production of
biopharmaceuticals. Also, multiple chromosomal modifications may be
required, which would quickly exhaust the supply of available antibiotic
resistance genes.
One approach to solve this problem involves
flanking an antibiotic resistance gene with recombination sites: DNA
sequences that are recognised by site-specific recombinase enzymes. When
the new DNA is inserted into the host cell chromosome, the site-specific
recombinase cuts its two target sites and joins them together to create a
single site, thereby excising the intervening antibiotic resistance gene.
The genes encoding the recombinase enzymes have traditionally been
introduced into the cell (usually on a plasmid) and removed later.
Xer-cise allows genes to be inserted or
deleted efficiently without permanently integrating antibiotic resistance
genes. An additional advantage of Xer-cise is the ubiquitous nature of the
Xer recombination system, which will allow the technology to be applied to
a wide range of bacteria, including species for which only a limited range
of molecular biological techniques have been developed.
Xer-cise is being protected through patent
applications worldwide.
For Further Information:
Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc
David Thatcher, Chief Executive, Tel: 44 (0) 1782 714 181 Northbank Communications Marc Egelhofer, Tel: 44 (0) 1260 296 5000 Buchanan Communications
Rebecca Dietrich,
Tel: 44 (0) 207 466 5000
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