DNA Found to Have "Impossible" Telepathic Properties
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<http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/06/dna47_3_2.jp\
g> DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together,
even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able
to. Explanation: None, at least not yet.

Scientists are reporting evidence that contrary to our current beliefs
about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the
"amazing" ability to recognize similarities in other DNA strands
from a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the
tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA. The
recognition of similar sequences in DNA's chemical subunits, occurs
in a way unrecognized by science. There is no known reason why the DNA
is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical
standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible.

Even so, the research published in ACS' Journal of Physical
Chemistry B, shows very clearly that homology recognition between
sequences of several hundred nucleotides occurs without physical contact
or presence of proteins. Double helixes of DNA can recognize matching
molecules from a distance and then gather together, all seemingly
without help from any other molecules or chemical signals.

In the study, scientists observed the behavior of fluorescently tagged
DNA strands placed in water that contained no proteins or other material
that could interfere with the experiment. Strands with identical
nucleotide sequences were about twice as likely to gather together as
DNA strands with different sequences. No one knows how individual DNA
strands could possibly be communicating in this way, yet somehow they
do. The "telepathic" effect is a source of wonder and amazement
for scientists.

"Amazingly, the forces responsible for the sequence recognition can
reach across more than one nanometer of water separating the surfaces of
the nearest neighbor DNA," said the authors Geoff S. Baldwin, Sergey
Leikin, John M. Seddon, and Alexei A. Kornyshev and colleagues.

This recognition effect may help increase the accuracy and efficiency of
the homologous recombination of genes, which is a process responsible
for DNA repair, evolution, and genetic diversity. The new findings may
also shed light on ways to avoid recombination errors, which are factors
in cancer, aging, and other health issues.

Posted by Rebecca Sato.


Source: ACS' Journal of Physical Chemistry B

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/02/dna-found-to-ha.html




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