Physicists Find Another ‘Unseen Layer’ of Information in our DNA

Here is a bit of background on recent research and developments in this area:

In recent years, biologists have even started to isolate the mechanical cues that determine the way DNA is folded, by ‘grabbing onto’ certain parts of the genetic code or changing the shape of the ‘spool’ the DNA is wrapped around.

So far, so good, but what do theoretical physicists have to do with all this?

A team from Leiden University in the Netherlands has now been able to step back and look at the process on a whole-genome scale, and confirm through computer simulations that these mechanical cues are actually coded into our DNA.

The physicists, led by Helmut Schiessel, did this by simulating the genomes of both baker’s yeast and fission yeast, and then randomly assigning them a second level of DNA information, complete with mechanical cues.

Ok just when you think they mapped a lot of dna they find this.  What will happen and what types of benefits could we have from knowing there is a whole area to research that was previously hidden?

Feel free to comment with your ideas on this exciting development.

Image credit: thierry ehrmann via Flickr

thanks to sciencealert.com for the great info



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