I'm starting to add a few proteins to the genome. The interactivity for all this still isn't worked out -- basically I'm playing. The first protein is encoded by the cel6/celA gene and is actually a functional cellulase, a rather surprising enzyme to be found in a human pathogen. The original paper speculates that this might be an evolutionary relic inherited from soil or plant-associated ancestors but comes down in favour of the notion that it either signifies a secondary host where cellulose is present or else the need to penetrate a cellulose-containing biofilm. Having this kind of conundrum right by the origin is a bonus.At the moment there is a disk (red in the picture) to touch that rezzes the protein using the Rez-Faux API. After 30 seconds the protein automatically derezzes, the aim being to conserve prims. Eventually I might build this functionality into the gene markers.
Obviously some strategy (more likely strategies) for engaging avatars of various ilks is needed.
2 comments:
Interesting article...I lean toward the author's idea that the enzyme has something to do with biofilms. In the absence of selective pressures I would expect loss of function mutations to build up.
I wonder if the gene is actually expressed in the TB organism.
I'm not aware of any data indicating expression but that's probably not surprising.
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