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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 09/29/2006 : 01:21:14
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They call it the "Lazarus microbe." According to an article by Ker Than in LiveScience, after getting its DNA torn to tiny shreds past the point of death by heat and UV radiation, the desert-dwelling Deinococcus radiodurans is able to reassemble its genetic code and come back to life. quote:
Lazarus Microbe's Immortality Secret Revealed
By Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 28 September 2006
10:36 am ET
Scientists have discovered a novel genetic repair process that allows a hardy desert microbe to die and resurrect over and over again.
The finding, detailed in the Sept. 28 issue of the journal Nature, could lead to new forms of regenerative medicines and might even allow scientists to one day bring dead cells in our own bodies back to life.
Deinococcus radiodurans is a so-called extremophile bacterium that can survive intense bouts of heat and UV radiation that shatters its genome into hundreds of DNA fragments. Without a genome, the microbe is effectively dead because it can't synthesize the proteins necessary for life.
In only a few hours, though, Deinococcus can reassemble its genome and return to life.
. . .
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 01:28:48 [Permalink]
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| That is mind boggling if true. Sounds like it would also provide some clues as to how a batch of loose molecules might have ended up as an organism for the first time. I am assuming there isn't a brain conducting this rebuilding so it would be strictly how the molecules lined up by their chemical attractions alone. |
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Antigone
New Member
44 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 12:34:13 [Permalink]
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| Wow! I think this is a pretty important find, not only in terms of what it can do for us, but also in how it can give us an even better glimps into the beginnings of life on this planet and how viruses and bacteria can be connected together. |
Mortui non dolent |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 15:25:01 [Permalink]
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Impressive.
And yes, it has major implications across several fields of inquiry. Medicine and abiogenesis in particlar.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 16:09:04 [Permalink]
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I suspect that whatever mechanisms Deinococcus radiodurans uses to reconstruct its DNA will turn out to be many orders of magnitude more advanced than the still-unknown mechanisms of abiogenesis. There are probably some major, advanced, DNA repair proteins still available to this organism, even after its death by heat and UV radiation, proteins not likely to have existed (or even be needed for DNA repair) by the hypothetical "Ur organism." Speculation is that RNA (or even an unknown precursor of RNA), not DNA, was the genetic material of the first lifeforms. And Deinococcus radiodurans does still at least have DNA fragments to reconstruct -- DNA doesn't have to be "reinvented" by it every time it dies.
It initially struck me, too, that there are implications in this microbe for abiogenesis, but I began to doubt this. I think now that many of these implications are more apparent than real.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 17:20:19 [Permalink]
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Half said:
quote:
It initially struck me, too, that there are implications in this microbe for abiogenesis, but I began to doubt this. I think now that many of these implications are more apparent than real.
The mechanism is, as yet, unknown.
This seems to be a novel approach to the reconstruction of DNA, so there may very well be insights into how DNA evolved as a result.
While it wouldn't neccessarily give us answers to mechanisms of abiogenesis, it could indeed provide clues to help find those answers.
It is certainly worth investigating, and I'd wager that it will be investigated.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 17:38:29 [Permalink]
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Indeed, Dude. Scientists should be jumping with impatience to get a crack at analyzing this remarkable bacterium's repair mechanisms. The thing is, despite my dash of cold water, the very fact that much is still unknown about the bug means it could have great implications in all sorts of fields, including abiogeneis. Implications to cancer research, and research on the aging process, occur to me, as well.
Damn, wasn't Darwin smart when he invented evolution?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2006 : 19:38:13 [Permalink]
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Something occurred to me: Could not the mechanism that Deinococcus radiodurans uses to patch its DNA back together in the proper order potentially (once it's better understood) be used to reassemble the fractured nuclear DNA from fossils? How about Neanderthal? Or the mammoth?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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sts60
Skeptic Friend
141 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2006 : 19:58:14 [Permalink]
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The unkillable microbe which so far doesn't want our habitat... My considered opinion is that we should start sucking up to Deinococcus while there's still time.  |
| Edited by - sts60 on 10/18/2006 19:58:48 |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 10:40:11 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Something occurred to me: Could not the mechanism that Deinococcus radiodurans uses to patch its DNA back together in the proper order potentially (once it's better understood) be used to reassemble the fractured nuclear DNA from fossils? How about Neanderthal? Or the mammoth?
Wow. I can't fault you for an imagination, HalfMooner. By ancient DNA fragments do you mean as obtained in amber such as in "Jurassic Park?" (I'm not being facetious.) 
(This is just a side note as we don't want to derail the main topic of this thread.)
*Edited to add a bit more because my original post might be mistaken for sarcasm, which it isn't.
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Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
| Edited by - Chippewa on 10/19/2006 20:10:36 |
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upriver
New Member
22 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 19:10:11 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by upriver
Actually, I think this will be a perfect opportunity to test Rupert Sheldrakes theory about morphogenic fields being the ultimate carrier of biological assembley information.
How would such a test be performed? Please include an example positive result as well as an example negative result.quote:
There is a bio-field or some form of energy that our current science notices the effects of but cannot yet quantify.
What observations would enable one to generate such a hypothesis? |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 19:14:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
What observations would enable one to generate such a hypothesis?
Taking pictures of ice crystals and then determining which ones you find "pretty," of course. Geez, Dave. Don't you know how to do science? 
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 10/19/2006 19:15:05 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 21:49:41 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Chippewa
quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Something occurred to me: Could not the mechanism that Deinococcus radiodurans uses to patch its DNA back together in the proper order potentially (once it's better understood) be used to reassemble the fractured nuclear DNA from fossils? How about Neanderthal? Or the mammoth?
Wow. I can't fault you for an imagination, HalfMooner. By ancient DNA fragments do you mean as obtained in amber such as in "Jurassic Park?" (I'm not being facetious.)
(This is just a side note as we don't want to derail the main topic of this thread.)
*Edited to add a bit more because my original post might be mistaken for sarcasm, which it isn't.
Heh. I'm not much concerned about you "derailing" a thread that's been rusting on the side track for a month, particularly when you are so close to the original topic. (It's that usual gang of idiots who posted after you that concerns me more.)
Yeah, you bet! I was thinking dinosaurs! But I'd be delighted enough if a technique could be developed to aid in the recently intensifying genetic comparison of Neanderthal with Homo sap. And cloning a genuine Woolly Mammoth or two would be sweet. And how about a Tasmanian Tiger, a Moa, a Dodo, or a Sabre-tooth?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 22:59:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
(It's that usual gang of idiots who posted after you that concerns me more.)
In all fairness Mooner, I believe I'm more of dufus than an idiot.
quote:
And cloning a genuine Woolly Mammoth or two would be sweet. And how about a Tasmanian Tiger, a Moa, a Dodo, or a Sabre-tooth?
How kickass would it be to see a Dire Wolf? One of which may or may not have been the fabled Beast of Gévaudan that terrorized the French countryside in the 18th century.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2006 : 00:40:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
(It's that usual gang of idiots who posted after you that concerns me more.)
In all fairness Mooner, I believe I'm more of dufus than an idiot.
quote:
And cloning a genuine Woolly Mammoth or two would be sweet. And how about a Tasmanian Tiger, a Moa, a Dodo, or a Sabre-tooth?
How kickass would it be to see a Dire Wolf? One of which may or may not have been the fabled Beast of Gévaudan that terrorized the French countryside in the 18th century.
First, thank you for correcting me on my choice of disparaging names. "Dufus" it shall be.
Dire wolf, cool! I want to raise one from a puppy! Though it might eat all the dogs (and people) in the neighborhood. And chew the tires off my new electric scooter.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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