Some of the most deadly human diseases work out by worming their way inside your DNA , attaching themselves to the cell ’s chromosomes . This wee-wee them almost impossible to take away . But a unexampled atom design to bamboozle rogue DNA could transfer everything .
The HIV computer virus is a estimable example of how cells can be damaged at the DNA level . Once the virus hold fast itself to a cell , it injects RNA and the enzymes necessary to create double - stranded desoxyribonucleic acid , which can then be integrated into one of the chromosomes of the legion cell . This parasitic DNA can then lie sleeping until it ’s ready to lead off building Modern virus , creating an almost inviolable beachhead inside the body to continue the infection process .
investigator at the University of Texas , direct by chemistry professor Brent Iverson , wanted to beat the rogue DNA at its own game . So they ’ve started exploit on molecules that can hold with specific deoxyribonucleic acid so that that part of the double helix becomes ravel , making it unable to deport out any genetic function . Their speck , which has been given the rather nifty name of “ string tetra - intercalator ” , can silence a strand of DNA for up to 16 days , before the spiral finally untwist itself . you could see a diagram of how the atom knead on the left .
This discovery opens up the possibility of drug treatments specifically targeted to keep the rogue DNA make by HIV , cancer , and other genetic diseases silenced , potentially on a permanent basis . That particular software is still a ways off , but this result suggest it ’s a very real possibility . In astatement , Iverson explains how the molecule works :
“ If you think of DNA as a spiral staircase , envisage sliding something between the steps . That ’s what our molecule does . It can be visualized as binding to desoxyribonucleic acid in the same way a serpent might climb a ladder . It goes back and off through the central stairway with division of it between the steps . Once in , it takes a farseeing metre to get idle . Our off - rate under the conditions we used is the slowest we jazz of by a wide margin . Take HIV , for example . We desire to be able to track it to wherever it is in the chromosome and just sit on it and keep it tranquil . Right now we treat HIV at a much recent stage with drug such as the protease inhibitors , but at the final stage of the day , the HIV DNA is still there . This would be a way to silence that material at its beginning . ”
Fellow researcher Amy Rhoden - Smith furnish some more technical particular on how the base corpuscle , naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide ( NDI ) , can be conform to silence the desired strain of rogue DNA . Basically , it ’s the molecular eq of building with Lego :
“ It ’s somewhat unproblematic for us to make . We are able to develop the strand of NDIs from special resin beads . We run reactions powerful on the beads , bind pieces in the right order and keep growing the molecules until we are ready to cohere them off . It ’s mostly automatise at this point . “ The larger particle is compose of little piece that bind to short segments of DNA , kind of like the way Legos fit together , ” she say . “ The little objet d’art can tie different episode , and we can put them together in different ways . We can put the Legos in a different arrangement . Then we scan for sequences that they ’ll tie . ”
ViaNature Chemistry . Top image by zentilia , viaShutterstock . Diagram by Brent Iverson .
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