{"id":1098,"date":"2016-08-01T19:24:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T02:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2018-09-10T17:27:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T00:27:38","slug":"dna-origami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2016\/08\/01\/dna-origami\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA Origami"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the cells that make up your body, about 2 metres (6 feet) of DNA <\/a>– strings of genes <\/a>–\u00a0are coiled up and packaged into\u00a0a typically roundish nucleus. This nucleus\u00a0is only about one hundred-thousandth of a metre wide. I’ve said before<\/a>\u00a0that the\u00a0DNA packed\u00a0into the nucleus “appears to be a tangled mess”. But looks can be\u00a0deceptive.<\/p>\n

In this\u00a0great little video<\/a>\u00a0Carl Zimmer challenges the idea that DNA in the nucleus\u00a0is\u00a0arranged randomly. Job Dekker and his group\u00a0are finding that\u00a0the nucleus is actually\u00a0very organised.\u00a0Zimmer conjures up an image of tiny robots in the cell folding the DNA very precisely.<\/p>\n

\/\/players.brightcove.net\/245991542\/344c319b-6d23-4cbc-975e-c8530534af8a_default\/index.html?videoId=4823709456001<\/a><\/p>\n[From Science Happens!\u00a0Episode 5<\/a>: Everything you thought you knew about the shape of DNA is wrong]\n

Some genes control other genes.\u00a0Dekker’s research suggests that the way DNA folds helps this process – by\u00a0bringing controlling genes close to the genes they regulate. One cause of cancer could be\u00a0bad folding\u00a0that\u00a0interferes with this\u00a0control mechanism.<\/p>\n

Dekker’s group\u00a0is\u00a0trying to work out which\u00a0genes lie next to each other and how DNA is folded. The answer will be extremely complex.\u00a0\u00a0Dekker thinks that one day\u00a0this knowledge will make it\u00a0possible to fix badly folded DNA in cancer cells.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cross-posted<\/a> to ChromosomesandCancer.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the cells that make up your body, about 2 metres (6 feet) of DNA <\/a>– strings of genes <\/a>–\u00a0are coiled up and packaged into\u00a0a typically roundish nucleus. This nucleus\u00a0is only about one hundred-thousandth of a metre wide. I’ve said before<\/a>\u00a0that the\u00a0DNA packed\u00a0into the nucleus “appears to be a tangled mess”. But looks can be\u00a0deceptive.<\/p>\n

In this\u00a0great little video<\/a>\u00a0Carl Zimmer challenges the idea that DNA in the nucleus\u00a0is\u00a0arranged randomly. Job Dekker and his group\u00a0are finding that\u00a0the nucleus is actually\u00a0very organised.\u00a0Zimmer conjures up an image of tiny robots in the cell folding the DNA very precisely.<\/p>\n

\/\/players.brightcove.net\/245991542\/344c319b-6d23-4cbc-975e-c8530534af8a_default\/index.html?videoId=4823709456001<\/a><\/p>\n[From Science Happens!\u00a0Episode 5<\/a>: Everything you thought you knew about the shape of DNA is wrong]\n

Some genes control other genes.\u00a0Dekker’s research suggests that the way DNA folds helps this process – by\u00a0bringing controlling genes close to the genes they regulate. One cause of cancer could be\u00a0bad folding\u00a0that\u00a0interferes with this\u00a0control mechanism.<\/p>\n

Dekker’s group\u00a0is\u00a0trying to work out which\u00a0genes lie next to each other and how DNA is folded. The answer will be extremely complex.\u00a0\u00a0Dekker thinks that one day\u00a0this knowledge will make it\u00a0possible to fix badly folded DNA in cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Continue reading “DNA Origami”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[47,77,250],"class_list":["post-1098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cell-biology","category-genomics-2","tag-cancer","tag-dna","tag-gene-control","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/dna-163466_960_720.jpg?fit=480%2C295&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7d3l3-hI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2014\/04\/21\/mitosis-fun-with-modelling-clay\/","url_meta":{"origin":1098,"position":0},"title":"Mitosis - fun with modelling clay","date":"April 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mitosis has to be one of the more beautiful things in nature. It's a choreographed dance of the chromosomes. It's so small that we can't see it without a microscope, but it goes on in our bodies billions of times a day. DNA is a very long molecule made up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cell biology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/unbanded-chr.009-BW-e1397896904691-1-300x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":969,"url":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2016\/05\/09\/969\/","url_meta":{"origin":1098,"position":1},"title":"Why do we need chromosomes?","date":"May 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Most cells in our bodies contain 46 separate long DNA strings that\u00a0spend most of their time in what appears to be a tangled mess - in a round sort of shape\u00a0we know as the nucleus. Then lo and behold, these long strings fold up and become chromosomes. Why do they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genomics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/3D-SIM-2_Nucleus_prophase_3d_rotated.jpg?fit=480%2C295&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":683,"url":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2015\/03\/23\/683\/","url_meta":{"origin":1098,"position":2},"title":"Why do we need chromosomes?","date":"March 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Our DNA usually hangs around in the nucleus - 46 long strings that seem to be all tangled up in a mess. Then lo and behold, these long strings fold up and become chromosomes. Why is this so? Bill Earnshaw's lab at Edinburgh University does some amazing work with chromosomes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cell biology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1440,"url":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2017\/09\/04\/this-sticky-end-is-a-clue-to-cancers-causes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1098,"position":3},"title":"This sticky end is a clue to cancer's causes","date":"September 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"How do healthy cells turn cancerous? Their \u00a0DNA\u00a0gradually accumulates errors. Most of these errors aren't important, but occasionally they stop the cell from working properly.\u00a0They might cause a cell to grow out of control - and this can lead to cancer.","rel":"","context":"In "cell biology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dic-20-22-small.jpg?fit=384%2C236&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":272,"url":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2014\/02\/10\/weird-model-system-of-the-day-giant-newt-chromosomes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1098,"position":4},"title":"Weird model system of the day: giant newt chromosomes","date":"February 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Biologists have a habit of using so-called \"model organisms\" to study biological phenomena that interest us. We throw this term around a lot. In my particular field of cell biology and in related fields of genetics and developmental biology, we use a lot of interesting and strange model organisms. So\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-10-at-3.17.23-PM-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":125,"url":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/2013\/11\/11\/philadephia-the-birthplace-of-cancer-genetics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1098,"position":5},"title":"Philadephia - the birthplace of cancer genetics","date":"November 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The 28th September 2010 was declared \"Philadelphia Chromosome Day\". The city of Philadelphia celebrated 50 years since a landmark discovery in cancer research. A special symposium to celebrate the Philadelphia Chromosome heard testimonies from chronic myeloid leukaemia\u00a0survivors - including basketball legend\u00a0Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -\u00a0who were grateful to be alive thanks the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/philadelphia-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scifundchallenge.org\/firesidescience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}