[ RadSafe ] Hebrew University researchers succeed in observing for 1st time how DNA damage is identified

[John Jacobus]

Roy,
I am not sure if this really adds much to the
discussion about DNA repair mechanism.  The
consequences of DNA repair and mis-repair have been
known for many years.  

See
http://www.hhmi.org/news/goldbergj.html

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=1303

http://mednews.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/6237.html

et alia

--- ROY HERREN <royherren2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I am looking forward to reading Dr. Long's response
> about the following article.  Sorry, but the graphic
> associated with this article may not be passed along
> by my e-mail.  to see the graphic go to
> http://www.eurekalert.org/bysubject/medicine.php and
> search for the article title, i.e. "Hebrew
> University researchers succeed in observing for 1st
> time how DNA damage is identified"
>    
>   Roy
>    
>   Public release date: 18-May-2006
> 
> Contact: Jerry Barach
> jerryb at savion.huji.ac.il
> 972-258-82904
> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 
>   Hebrew University researchers succeed in observing
> for 1st time how DNA damage is identified           
> 
> ---------------------------------
>   
>   
>     
> ---------------------------------
>   
>   Protein (green dot) shown in this sequence
> scanning through a cell’s DNA for mutations. 
>   Click here for more information. 
>     
> ---------------------------------
>   
>   
>   For the first time anywhere, researchers at the
> Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in
> observing and describing how damaged DNA is
> naturally identified. 
>   The research sheds new light on understanding this
> molecular mechanism and is likely to aid in research
> on diseases involving DNA damage, including cancer. 
>   An article regarding the work of the Hebrew
> University researchers appears in the current issue
> of the scientific journal Cell. 
>   The researchers, headed by Dr. Sigal Ben-Yehuda of
> the Department of Molecular Biology at the Hebrew
> University-Hadassah Medical School, revealed a new
> protein which scans DNA at the onset of bacterial
> sporulation. The protein moves quickly along the
> chromosome and identifies DNA damage. When the
> protein identifies such damage, it halts at that
> spot and signals to other proteins which repair DNA.
> 
>   Under conditions of stress, some bacteria undergo
> a process of division which produces spores. These
> spores are particularly resistant to conditions of
> heat, radiation, dryness and exposure to chemicals,
> making it difficult to eradicate them with
> conventional methods, such as antibiotic drugs. 
>   Most of the knowledge about sporulation of
> bacteria has been gathered over the years on a
> bacterium known as Bacillus subtilis, a bacterium
> which does not cause any illnesses. When this
> bacterium enters the sporulation phase, it verifies
> that the DNA sequence is in proper order and does
> not contain any mutations. But the process of how
> this occurs has not been observed until now. 
>   "For the first time it is now possible to see how
> this phenomenon occurs," said Dr. Ben-Yehuda.
> "Proteins triggered by the bacteria that are similar
> to the protein that has been revealed in our
> laboratory are found in all species, including
> humans, and therefore one can conclude that the way
> in which the bacterial protein scans the DNA for
> lesions is similar among many forms of life. 
>   "This understanding of the molecular basis of the
> DNA repair is a basic step in furthering our ability
> to understand those illnesses stemming from DNA
> damage, for example cancerous growths. " 
>   ###
> 
> 
> Roy Herren
> 			
> 

+++++++++++++++++++
"People will be shocked to see how safe it is to live in New York City."
ANDREW KARMEN, a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, on murder trends in the city.

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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