To fix an enzyme in this pathway, in 1999 Jesse Gelsinger (“GELL-singer”) enrolled in a gene therapy clinical trial which had tragic consequences. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this metabolic cycle that detoxifies ammonia in the liver.
ANSWER: urea cycle
[10h] Gelsinger had a lethal adverse reaction to one of these viruses used to package the new gene. The common cold can be caused by this family of DNA viruses, which have since been used safely in the AstraZeneca and J & J COVID-19 vaccines.
ANSWER: adenoviruses [or Adenoviridae; reject “adeno-associated viruses” or “AAVs”]
[10e] The Gelsinger tragedy kiboshed gene therapy for two decades until a treatment for this cancer was finally approved in 2017. Like lymphoma, this cancer of the bone marrow overproduces white blood cells.
ANSWER: leukemias [or acute lymphoblastic leukemias]
<Sudheer Potru, Science - Biology> ~20727~ <Editor: Adam Silverman>