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Functional inactivation of genes by dominant negative mutations

Nature volume 329, pages 219–222 (1987)Cite this article

Abstract

Molecular biologists are increasingly faced with the problem of assigning a function to genes that have been cloned. A new approach to this problem involves the manipulation of the cloned gene to create what are known as 'dominant negative' mutations. These encode mutant polypeptides that when overexpressed disrupt the activity of the wild-type gene. There are many precedents for this kind of behaviour in the literature—some oncogenes might be examples of naturally occurring dominant negative mutations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

    Ira Herskowitz

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  1. Ira Herskowitz
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Herskowitz, I. Functional inactivation of genes by dominant negative mutations. Nature 329, 219–222 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/329219a0

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