Tight genes make radiation-munching bug strong

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Tight genes make radiation-munching bug strong

By Reuters

Friday, January 10, 2003

http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2003/01/01102003/s_49322.asp



WASHINGTON — Tight genes help a nuclear waste-munching bacterium resist

the deadly effects of radiation, Israeli and U.S. scientists reported.

The DNA of Deinococcus radiodurans, which can also survive extreme cold

and dryness, is tightly packed into a circle, the researchers report in

Friday's issue of the journal Science. 



That dense ring helps keep damaged DNA in place, allowing broken-off

pieces to move eventually back into position, said Avi Minsky of the

Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovoth, Israel. Radiation severely

damages DNA, and the pieces break off and float away in most organisms.

But in Deinococcus, the structure keeps them in place until they come

back together, Minsky and colleagues believe. 



Unfortunately, humans may not benefit from this finding, said the

researchers, including a team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

"Our DNA is structured in a fundamentally different manner," Minsky said

in a statement. 



Deinococcus is sometimes employed in cleaning up nuclear waste, but

scientists are studying its genetic structure to see if they can

genetically engineer something even tougher. It can withstand 1.5

million rads, a measure of radiation, which is 1,000 times more than any

other life form. 



Its existence suggests that life, in the form of bacteria, could have

survived in space and may thrive on other planets. 

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org

.....................................................

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