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55 Comments
- NotYourProdigy, on 11/03/2008, -3/+42Wow. Is there anyway I can help speed this up? I'd like to use this before I expire.
- OfNumbers, on 11/03/2008, -3/+26Irony would be Gen X getting to live forever.
- Mujokan, on 11/03/2008, -1/+23I'm going to digg you up just in case it makes it happen faster!
- Mujokan, on 11/03/2008, -2/+22I support this research. I'm mostly against death.
- petterp, on 11/03/2008, -0/+10As the helicase splits the strands, the protein topoisomerase relieves the "tension" created by this incrested coiling (twisting) of the DNA but cutting one strand and reattaching it. After transcribing/replicating a strech of DNA, the relieved coiling/twisting needs to be "recoiled", if not there would appear an area where the forces in the helix would force the strands apart. It is this recoiling that the HARP protein seems to take care of.
My guess would be that helicase, topoisomerase, HARP and a yet-not-discovered-topoisomerase-HARP-counterpart work in a complex adjusting the coiling tension in the helix. - ryancxx, on 11/03/2008, -0/+9If I was an enzyme I'd be helicase, cause I want to unzip your genes.
- Dante001, on 11/03/2008, -0/+8I think some of you may need to read the article again... this is not a cure for death. What they seem to have discovered is a possible 'annealing helicase' that will connect previously unwounded (separated/detached) DNA strands, presumably that are are connected in 'healthy/normal' individuals. Basically this enzyme reverses DNA imperfections. Going out on a limb, and I should point out unlikely in our life times the possibility to reverse 'Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia'.
tl;dr read article more than once. - LukeBeaumont, on 11/03/2008, -0/+7I thought that DNA doesn't like being single stranded, and that when the strands are split apart (with the Helicase) without the single stranded binding proteins, that DNA just sticks back together with the Hydrogen bonding.
- zyklon, on 11/03/2008, -3/+9If I remember correctly, a large portion of cancers occur because the helicase unzips the DNA, but doesn't zip it back properly causing mismatches in the gene sequence, causing massive mutation in the cell and its children cells.
TL;DR: This protein could eventually possibly be a way to cure some cancers. That's ***** awesome. - ColorBlind, on 11/03/2008, -2/+8Just watched The Fountain last night.
- jjmckay, on 11/03/2008, -0/+6Well all of humanity is ignorant, too. Until very recently we hadn't even invented the iphone.
- Zaxcomp, on 11/03/2008, -0/+6Only in the same way that no scientist would be up in arms if you said your foot was designed to walk on. All our parts were "designed" by evolutionary processes, even if that designer happened to be random chance.
- RealmDown, on 11/03/2008, -0/+5As I can watch them do it, it's fine.
- NanoStuff, on 11/03/2008, -0/+5Not having an answer isn't equal to having an epiphenomenal explanation. They didn't assume anything, just didn't know. There are many nanofluidic effects and tensions in the strand that could have been responsible and maybe are responsible for certain types of neutralization.
- IamSunstorm, on 11/03/2008, -0/+5My head just exploded.
- Mujokan, on 11/03/2008, -0/+3Unlike most people who pounce on the idea of "randomness" in evolution, it seems like you understand what's going on. Your disagreement is just with the time frame, which seems unlikely to you. Unfortunately you are wrong on that.
Randomness doesn't design, but randomness permits (what appears to us as) design. Natural selection (which is certainly not random, any more than it's random if you die when a piano falls on your head) takes care of the design, but it couldn't work if no change was possible. - feezus, on 11/03/2008, -0/+3It's been a while since I've dropped out, but I seem to rememeber that "by itself" thing being very highly regatrded. Denaturization happens when your DNA gets too hot or your pH gets off, and then when returning to standard conditions, it will automatically renature.
- Elderon, on 11/03/2008, -0/+3That's the beauty of science though. Instead of chalking things like this up to "magic" we investigate and explore and continue to expand our knowledge.
Pretty cool stuff, I wonder what applications this could potentially have. - sanman, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2an enzyme that can FFW or Pause the DNA would also be useful
- insanebrain, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2Next week : Digg found a cure for cancer through rewinding DNA.
- veggiemoore, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2Beautiful movie, beautiful soundtrack.
- Mordisquitos, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2I feel a disturbance in the force:
"Sometimes these dollars they go to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like proteins that rewind DNA, in San Diego, California. I kid you not! Do biologists still use VHS?" - junkwheel, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2Standing on your head has the same effect.
- ncc74656m, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2It would be pretty interesting to see this in effect. This causes so many "old age" diseases, I'd be interested in seeing what actual effects this might have.
- thesubs, on 11/03/2008, -2/+4“I believe it’s going to go beyond DNA. Just as there are DNA-DNA helicases, there are RNA-DNA helicases and RNA-RNA helicases. So it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to foresee that there are probably going to be RNA-DNA annealing helicases and RNA-RNA annealing helicases. The field potentially can be fairly large. And as more and more people discover additional annealing helicases, this field will expand.”
sounds big. could get them a prize. - Brian48216, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2I'm compelled to digg you up...
I clearly have no clue what you're talking about but it definitely seems more actual knowledge (incredibly rare on digg)
as opposed to completely talking out your ass (incredibly common) - sfhock, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2Be Kind... Rewind!
- sogr, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2Well as the rest of the world crumbles at least the 2012 Zombie Apocalypse looks to be on track.
- Zaxcomp, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2Beautiful girl.
- truthliesverbs, on 11/03/2008, -0/+2no, the motor protein is *biologically* designed to prevent the accumulation of bubbles of unwound DNA. It was funded as a study, not a R&D endeavor.
- evvad, on 11/03/2008, -2/+4You may have meant to say prevent, not cure.
- lauraT1987, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1I will be young forever!
- Recoil, on 11/04/2008, -0/+1"BREAKING: Obama and Rick Astley develop invisibility cloak for Apple that rewinds DNA - Top 10 list of possible applications (Slideshow)"
- xptoast, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1Couldn't they test this on possibly a fly to see if it would last more than a day?
- wolfeater2, on 11/03/2008, -1/+2you forgot the "BREAKING:
- azhura, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1You mean awesome, right?
- MrFurious2k, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1The last time I took Biology we learned that there were certain enzymes that clung to the strands of DNA after unwinding (sorry the name of the enzyme escapes me). These enzymes negated the charge of the strand and prevented its desire to return to its "natural" double stranded state. Apparently these enzymes would move along (or fall off) with the polymerase and other replication enzymes. Consequently, you ended up with the strands recombining when their charges pulled them back together.
I didn't get the impression from this article that it was saying that this new discovery was a normal part of replication. It seems this particular enzyme (HARP) becomes functional when:
“…DNA strands become improperly unwound in certain locations along the molecule.”
If I’m reading this correctly, it seems to imply that HARP is an enzyme more used in repair to fix “defective DNA” that hasn’t properly rewound itself.
Frankly, this is pretty amazing stuff. - groundzerofilms, on 11/03/2008, -1/+2Protein = Chemical X?
- fade79, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1The protein you are referring to is ssbp (or RPA for humans) and I think you are right. It doesn't sound like this new helicase is involved with normal replication and instead used only for DNA repair as a defect results in increased genetic mutations (hence the dysplasia). Similar to how defects in other DNA repair enzymes result in higher rates of cancer and other defects.
- AtraNoxVII, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1A Beautiful Mind?
Nope?
Ok. - Alias1431, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1No one gets out alive.
- veggiemoore, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1Yeah! It must be!
/s - PeeEqualsNP, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1"Only in the same way that no scientist would be up in arms if you said your foot was designed to walk on. All our parts were "designed" by evolutionary processes"
Good answer, I agree with you.
"even if that designer happened to be random chance."
Here's my only disagreement. If this protein really does play this important of a role in sustaining our DNA, then the likelihood of it randomly developing, being incorporated into DNA and used, propagating to the next generation, then possibly propagating to other living organisms in the amount of time described in the average evolutionary time table... seems unlikely.
The word random being used in a statement implies a lot. Natural selection is not random, it is probably closer to predictable than random. But the evolutionary changes that natural selection acts upon are usually considered to be random. Now including other evolutionary processes to account for the changes (genetic flow and drift etc.) does not take out the factor of randomness., it just reduces the pool of possible random mutations.
Randomness doesn't "design". Design implies forethought, purpose. To say randomness designed is almost an oxymoron. - elendryst, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1Stoned or no?
Seriously, that movie was confusing. Only after it ended did I get the full story, and even then, it took awhile after. - sanosuke001, on 11/03/2008, -1/+2Actually, it seems VERY likely. If this stops a lot of diseases and decreases the risk of death, those individuals that had this ability would most likely outlive those that didn't, giving them a better chance of passing on this ability.
You know, natural selection and all... - leerayIG88, on 11/03/2008, -0/+1how would you know if you were a zombie?
- zengothicmonk37, on 11/03/2008, -0/+0I'm sure the Umbrella Corporation has this one well funded. "All we were doing was trying to cure death!"
- MeatMountain, on 11/03/2008, -0/+0can i start smoking and eating nothing but cheeseburgers now?
- Rudegar, on 11/03/2008, -1/+1"rewinds you say, hey ya all their trying to make a monkey out of yuuuuuu"
Regards Joseph 6 pack jr. -
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