Small essays

Small essays The Dead Sea is known for its high salt concentration which inhibits life for most organisms. The high salt concentration damages the organisms DNA by depriving the cell from the water they need to keep the structure of its double helix, leading to a faulty DNA strand which causes the cell to malfunction or die. It has been discovered that a tiny critter from the Dead Sea is teaching scientists new things about biotechnology, cancer, possible life on other worlds. Scientists believe that the tiny organism known as Halobacterium may be the solution to protect astronauts from space radiation which damages to the cells DNA. After the discovery of Halobacterium, NASA has funded researchers at the University of Maryland to conduct a series of experiments to test the microbes ability to reconstruct its DNA. The microbe was exposed to several types of hostile environments that have totally fragmented its DNA, and the organism has put back in working order its complete chromosome within several hours. The leader of the University of Maryland research team, Jocelyn DiRuggiero, began a number of experiments on the microbe trying to reveal its DNA repair machinery. The little organism was exposed to intense UV radiation (UV-C 254 nm), under which most organisms such as E. Coli would not survive, yet 80% Halobacterium survived and went on proliferating. Other experiments included exposing the bacterium to a vacuum environment simulating the vacuum of space. As water evaporated and salt crystals were left behind, the bacterium was trapped inside the crystals in a semi-dormant state. It was found that the bacterium could live in a dormant state for long periods of time until it was dissolved back in water. At the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, scientists have access to a tool known as the DNA Microarray, where they can observe the mechanisms involved in the DNA repa ...