DNA stuff

["DAVE GILMORE" <DGILMORE@navajo.astate.edu>]

 denison.8@osu.edu (Eric Denison) wrote:
>t the acids with the greatest number of
codon triplets are the most common and/or the most important to promote
folding of the protein into its proper three-dimensional shape.  In many
cases, changing one amino acid in a protein can make that protein
non-functional.*  It makes sense, then, that there is a redundant system
for getting these critical amino acids into their proper places in the
proteins.
              etc.>

Yes, what Eric said.
Also, unless I missed a deeper point, this comment on double strand 
vs single strand breaks.
In a single strand break, the bases in the area are just clipped out, 
and since then template strand is still there intact, complementary 
bases are just filled in and the DNA backbone re-ligated and repair 
is done.  In a double stranded break, I don;t know what the repair 
mechanism is.  I guess you have to hope that the protein scaffold is 
holding the ends right next to each other, but even then, I don;t 
know what the enzymology is.  The short answer, then, is that there 
are repair mechanisms for single strand breaks but there may not be 
any for double strand breaks.

HANDBELL PEOPLE have all gone campan-

David F. Gilmore
Assistant Professor of Environmental Biology   
P.O. Box 599, Dept. of Biological Sciences  
Arkansas State University 
State University, AR 72467
dgilmore@navajo.astate.edu
ph  870-972-3082    fax 870-972-2638