Changes the world forever.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE RABIES VIRUS

Rabies is a deadly disease that can effect all warm-blooded animals, including humans. It attacks the central nervous system and infects the brain and most of the tissues in the body. The brain becomes inflamed, and the CNS does not

perform normally. It is known by the aggression it causes in the infected animal. The animal goes ‘crazy’ and attacks

anything it comes in contact with. The disease is transmitted through open wounds or saliva. This disease is often deadly in humans, but does not have the same effect as in animals. Humans do not attack other animals. They may undergo paralysis and succumb to spasms, making it

difficult to swallow. This usually leads to death.

HISTORY

In a biological institute in Japan, a strain of rabies was being experimented on. The biological institute was not government funded, or acknowledged.. This means the

institute was illegally experimenting on a deadly virus. The scientists were performing gel electrophoresis, trying to

find the nucleic acids that coded for the virus’s restriction enzymes. After the electrophoresis, they used DNA

sequencing. They eventually found the nucleic acids AGC, CCC, and GAC bonded to create the gene that codes for the restriction enzymes of the rabies virus. The scientists added an siRNA to the virus that would seek out the enzyme and destroy it. This allows the scientists to freely experiment

with the virus. The scientists gathered the genetic code for the heightened aggression from previous scientists’ work.

THE DEVASTATING TRANSFORMATION

They were unable to find the DNA segment in their virus, even after using a radioactive labeled probe. Their make-shift southern blotting had failed. But, they were able to find the mRNA that translated into the DNA segment they wanted. The scientists extracted the mRNA,

and made a few tweaks to the aggression code. They injected it back into the virus and went on to extract the first few translations. They performed PCR on the few DNA strands they found, increasing the amount of DNA normally found in the virus. They put the DNA back in the virus. The next day, the scientists had collected twenty rats to

test on. They put the rats in cages after injecting each with the virus. They left them alone for twenty four hours. Once they

returned, they observed the rat cages. Thirteen of the mice had died, three were ravaging in their cages. The other four cages were empty, with frayed wire on the cage door. The scientists were

worried, and left the room to search for the missing rats.

PLAYING GOD

The scientists returned to the room without luck. They came back to find that all the rats were missing, even the

dead ones. All of the cages were frayed with hair and blood on the walls. Shortly after their discovery, they heard a

scream from the other room….

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?