This is crazy to even think about, according to this article quadruplexes are more common than you would think. By the way a quadruplex is the term these scientists use to refer to a DNA with four strands. Even though this article touches lightly on the subject about DNA with four strands, I think its nuts to even have imagined that this was possible. The article references that when a quadruplex is present, it is usually found in a cancer cell and that also it is found near oncogenes. What my take on this is that they might have found something that is very closely related to the cause for cancer to arise in cells. My main question about this article or any research that is done around this topic is: Is it possible that this quadruplex is passed down from generation to generation coded in our genes? Or is it that this folding of a double-stranded DNA on itself just a mutation to the DNA itself which leads to the cause of cancer?
Here is the article that touches on this cool new discovery
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150909090609.htm
Imperial College London. "Designer molecule shines a spotlight on mysterious 4-stranded DNA." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 September 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150909090609.htm>.
These are good questions. The original article (link at the Science Daily site) doesn't say, but itself cites a number of other papers (most newer than 2008).
ReplyDeleteYou may have questions for Sarah.
ReplyDeleteAre there any beneficial uses for quadruplexes?
ReplyDeleteAre there any beneficial uses for quadruplexes?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1636468/
ReplyDeleteThis article talks more in depth about quadruplexes and how they are made.
I wondered if this form of DNA has anything to do with the activation/deactivation of the p52 gene which is involved with the body reproducing cancer cells. Once it's turned off, it can't be turned back on as of yet, so with these being so close to the onco region makes me wonder....
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