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DNA's repair system studied for better cancer treatments

heraldonline.com — Scientists are looking to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by understanding how cells repair themselves.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 6, 2009

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  • smash20, on 07/06/2009, -0/+4Honestly, I don't think this is some big new revelation that the headline is making it out to be. Most of the information in the article is common knowledge to anyone who has taken an intro to Bio course or AP Biology in high school, and I can't imagine that this pathway hasn't been explored before. The only real "new" fact here is that some drug company shelled out some money to buy out an enzyme that could prove vital for this procedure. Sensationalist news headlines at its finest.
  • iEATcatFOOD, on 07/06/2009, -0/+2DNA polymerase is extremely *****, btw. very unstable. Why? Why would a creator make it so god damn *****?

    to answer b) natural selection used DNA mutations to advance the proper species. DNA replication and repair has gone back to the very beginning, with very basic prokaryotic cells, which used RNA to replicate itself. So yes, millions of years.

    Want me to make something up? Oh, well, it won't make sense, but okay: God did it.

    There, that sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? OH WAIT THATS WHAT YOU BELIEVE ^_^
  • Harabeck, on 07/06/2009, -0/+2The mutations which are part of evolution make it past the repair system. The reason it's there in the first place is because it helps the organism survive, so those organisms that happened upon it had an advantage. This is all pretty simple stuff, try picking up a high school biology textbook.
  • tekproxy, on 07/06/2009, -0/+2Science helps those who help themselves. Get off your ass and go find out.
  • nullcodes, on 07/06/2009, -1/+3If only our cells had a foolproof method of self repair, nobody would ever get cancer .. or AIDS (which is caused by a virus that integrates itself into DNA).
  • childoftheatom, on 07/06/2009, -0/+2Cells evolved different means to repair DNA damage because it gives them an advantage - a cell with the ability to repair DNA damage is more robust than a cell without any means of DNA repair.

    As someone mentioned earlier, DNA polymerase (the enzyme that replicates DNA) is error-prone; it does not put in the appropriate base 100% of the time. Spontaneous mutations can be introduced through the action of this polymerase. This is different than DNA damage from ionizing radiation or oxidative stress.

    One possibility is that long ago a cell spontaneously mutated in such a way as to be able to tolerate some DNA damage - perhaps a mutation resulting in a protein that could recognize and flag damaged basepairs - and with this advantage evolutionary change began to take place.

    Evolutionary changes like this have taken place in a controlled laboratory setting and have been documented. I can think of one example offhand where a laboratory was able to observe E.coli evolving the ability to metabolize a sugar it had not previously been able to.

    If you have any other questions, just let me know and I'll try my best to answer them.
  • iEATcatFOOD, on 07/06/2009, -0/+1DNA
  • bigp3rm, on 07/06/2009, -0/+1Wait didn't they say on digg a few different times that they found a cure for cancer? Damn it digg lets get the scientists on the same page!
  • nullcodes, on 07/06/2009, -0/+1The only downside is that we'll have to pay God royalties if we make anything based on it.
  • lacrimosa2008, on 07/06/2009, -0/+1Wow, this seems like a completely new approach...
  • nullcodes, on 07/06/2009, -0/+1No scientist or person with half a brain would ever say cellular DNA repair mechanisms are perfect. Don't they teach that in Junior High biology class?
  • iEATcatFOOD, on 07/06/2009, -0/+1Heres to sensationalist news headlines.
  • inactive, on 07/06/2009, -1/+0Science will never be able to replicate nature.
  • jacksecret, on 07/06/2009, -1/+0If anyone finds a cure for cancer they will suffer the same fate as the others who already have. They will be bought off, jailed or murdered by the new world order. Invent something that makes Oil obsolete and it's the same story.
  • appleofdischord, on 07/06/2009, -3/+1Well, I'm quite sure that you know better than the scientists studying these things.
  • CrazedLeper, on 07/06/2009, -5/+1Anyone want to explain how (and, for that matter, when) DNA got a "repair" system if a) DNA "evolved" with no direction and b) evolution is supposed to be dependent upon the collection of random errors in DNA? Just make something up; start with "millions of years...." and you are automatically relieved of the burden of proof.

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