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Similar DNA Molecules Able to Recognize Each Other

Posted by Soulskill on from the dna-gps dept.

Chroniton brings us a story about research into DNA which has shown that free-floating DNA strands are able to seek out similar strands without the assistance of other chemicals. From Imperial College London: "The researchers observed the behaviour of fluorescently tagged DNA molecules in a pure solution. They found that DNA molecules with identical patterns of chemical bases were approximately twice as likely to gather together than DNA molecules with different sequences. Understanding the precise mechanism of the primary recognition stage of genetic recombination may shed light on how to avoid or minimise recombination errors in evolution, natural selection and DNA repair. This is important because such errors are believed to cause a number of genetically determined diseases including cancers and some forms of Alzheimer's, as well as contributing to ageing."

7 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Don't anthropomorphize chemical compounds. by B3ryllium · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But in this case, the chemical compounds do that to themselves ...

  2. GATTACA by Bananatree3 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I doubt it will get to that, but I really am concerned. If you have not seen the movie Gattaca, check out the trailer.

    With all of its advances, I sure hope a code of conduct is built into societies laws to help contain its tech to good uses. Of course there may be gene doping, etc. But antidiscrimination laws may need to be written at some point.

    1. Re:GATTACA by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Insightful
      While I appreciate that there will be all sorts of concerns raised with the rise of biotechnology, do realize that Gattaca's world is a bit... oversimplified. Think about it. There are basically two classes of people: astronauts and janitors.

      The real world is going to be more complicated than that. This is a good thing.

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    2. Re:GATTACA by Beavertank · · Score: 2, Insightful
      If I remember the movie correctly there were anti-discrimination laws, which were technically followed, but when you can extract the genetic information you need from a lost hair or even the epithelial cells contained in a urine sample (for drug testing, of course) you can fairly simply come up with another excuse for not hiring the person and it can never be proved that you did not, in fact, hire them because you knew they'd be dead by 40 of heart disease.


      Which was all pretty clearly spelled out in the movie, I think.

  3. Is it just me... by vajaradakini · · Score: 2, Insightful

    or does eliminating certain DNA errors seem like a possibly very bad idea? I mean, let's say that a gene causes Alzheimer's disease later in life, but it gives its carrier immunity to a new virus that appears. Eliminating this gene from the entire species could wind up killing us all off in the end. Just because something appears to be a disadvantage doesn't mean that it's always so.

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  4. Re:Don't anthropomorphize chemical compounds. by Lord+Ender · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This post is either profoundly deep or really dumb.

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  5. Re:Don't anthropomorphize chemical compounds. by B3ryllium · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think you'll find, upon re-reading it, that it is actually profoundly dumb.