DNA is fundamental to life: it is the physical method through which evolution works, and the means by which most living creatures store their genetic information and pass it on to their descendants. This year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to three researchers—Tomas Lindahl, a Swede, Paul Modrich, an American, and Aziz Sancar, a Turk—who between them helped to work out how living creatures keep that message legible and ungarbled in the face of a hostile world.
The DNA in an animal’s cells faces a constant stream of chemical and physical insults. Mutated or damaged DNA causes cancer, seems to be one reason why animals age, and is behind inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis and haemophilia. To try to counteract this damage, cells nurse their DNA with a variety of proteins designed to repair damage before it can cause problems.
Dr Lindahl discovered one type of damage. DNA, he found, is not a stable molecule. A variety of chemical processes degrade it over the course of time, including one in which cytosine (one of the four bases that encode genetic information) spontaneously transforms into an unwanted chemical called uracil. Having worked...Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1JStLG5
EmoticonEmoticon