Peter Nielsen: Designing A New Molecule of Life Life as we know it is far more complex than one can imagine. The smallest molecule in the human body can play a large role in determining the genetic outcome or the overall well being of a person. In Peter Nielsen’s “Designing a New Molecule of Life”, he speaks of a molecule that hopefully one day will create a scientific and medical breakthrough. In this essay you will read a summary of Peter Nielsen’s article and the research he has done with this molecule. Peter Nielson, along with many other scientists, have spent years creating and experimenting with a synthetic molecule called peptide nucleic acid (PNA). PNA is an artificial polymer that has many similarities to deoxyribonucleic …show more content…
Instead, a PNA strand invaded the DNA helix , displacing one of the DNA strands to form a bond with its (PNA) complement, and the second PNA strand formed what is called a Hoogsteen bonds PNA-DNA= PNA triplex. This created a triple invasion of the DNA helix. Other bonding methods were experimented where the PNA’s bases where modified according to the targeted DNA. Fortunately this method had better results though there are a lot more things to overcome. In making PNA a prospect for drugs, researchers have demonstrated proof of concept for using PNA oligomers to activated or suppress the transcription, replication, or repair of specific genes by binding DNA is various ways. PNA oligomers and conventional nucleic acids have the same problem of poor bioavailability because they are large water loving molecules making it difficult for them to enter cells. The productions of PNA based drugs awaits the development of suitable chemical modifications or pharmaceutical formulations to improve PNA bioavailability. Researchers believe this is the only thing holding back this medical breakthrough. In Nielsen’s article “Designing a New Molecule of Life”, he goes into detail of the many factors PNA will offer in the future. PNA can create a breakthrough drug, or may even create artificial life one day. Scientists say the PNA has many similarities as the molecules that have been thought to be the beginning of life. Though the
Recollect what people had for lunch. Did any of their lunch things have a nourishment facts name on the back of them? Provided that this is true, and in the event that people observed the sustenance 's protein, sugar, or fat substance, they might as of now be acquainted with a few sorts of vast organic particles, which are going to be discussed in this paper. Therefore, everyone will also be viewed the four major biological macromolecules as are carbohydrates (such as sugars), lipids (such as fats), proteins and nucleic acids (such as RNA and DNA), which all are fundamental forever. A large portion of these molecules is shaped from monomers and polymers. Monomers are small molecules that can be joined by a condensation reaction, in which water is removed to form the bond between two monomers. Whereas polymers are huge molecules, can be degraded by a hydrolysis reaction in which water is added to break the bond between polymers. That’s how the large molecules are formed due to condensation and hydrolysis reaction.
Each gene has a different line up of letters. These letters are read in three letter intervals called codons. These codons have the specific instructions to create a certain protein based on the order of the three letters. Each gene has seven codons, which make seven proteins that are held together by peptide bonds. A peptide bond is a chemical bond formed between two molecules when the carboxyl group from one molecule reacts to the amino group of the other molecule. This releases a molecule of water. The seven proteins that are connected by the peptide bonds, create a chain called a polypeptide chain. A polypeptide chain is a chain of amino acids, which are connected by a peptide bond. We are made from a double-helix shaped molecules called Deoxyribonucleic Acid, which is commonly called DNA. DNA, when stretched out, is six feet long. It is wrapped around itself many times to make a chromosome. Forty-six chromosomes fit into the nucleus of a cell. This six feet of DNA is equivalent to around twenty-three thousand genes. These twenty-three thousand genes work together to create all living things. DNA is the building blocks of all life on Earth. We are
During the process of transcription, the information stored in a gene's DNA is transferred to a similar molecule called RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the cell nucleus. Both RNA and DNA are made up of a chain of nucleotide bases, but they have slightly different chemical properties. The type of RNA that contains the information for making a protein is called messenger RNA (mRNA) because it carries the information, or message, from the DNA out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm.
In the article “Almost-Earth Tantalizes Astronomers With Promise of Worlds to Come” scientists discover a planet known as Keplar-186 which could possibly have life. The Keplar-186 is the closest planet to Earth that could have life, but the planet is 500 light years away and has a red dwarf star as its sun. Whereas the article “‘Without Doubt,’ a Sixth Mass Extinction Event is Here” explains of how another mass extinction is likely to occur. The article further explains how if present conditions continue then it will take millions of years to recover life. Although, not all researchers are focusing on ecological or exobiological studies. In the article “Synthetic biology: edging toward the clinic” explores the ideas of how humans can manipulate cells in a rational fashion to cure diseases. Also, the article also explains of the difficulties with However,
Her discipline encompasses the molecular basis of living organisms through studying the relationships between cellular components, particularly nucleic acids and proteins (Martin, 2010). Molecular biology is important to the practice of medicine as it examines the biological relationships and processes in living cells, and is thus particularly useful in expanding scientific research and drug development (Coriell Institute for Medical Research, 2014). Furthermore, just as Cory also graduated in biochemistry from The University of Melbourne, the discipline of molecular biology has a deep interrelation with biochemistry and this interplay is strongly reflected in medical
The discovery of DNA in the 1950’s has spawned a huge growing biomedical and biotechnological industry. Within a few decades of the DNA’s discovery, scientists have successfully manipulated DNA by inserting new genes into organisms, ranging from bacterium to primates, as well as cloned different species as complex as sheep. These breakthroughs have demonstrated the power of this knowledge and the wondrous possibilities that this knowledge can unlock.
It is a common misbelief that DNA was first discovered by Watson and Crick in 1953, but it was identified by a Swiss chemist Friedrich Meischer in 1869, not acknowledged much for his identification. But later on the Watson and Crick model of DNA was widely accepted and recognized. Meischer identified a substance while working on white blood cells of pus coated bandages. He used salt solution to find out the composition of WBCs. He noticed that a substance is separated from solution when he added salt in it. After that when he added alkali in it, the separated substance dissolved in it again. Meischer named this substance as “nuclein” .He discovered the hereditary material but unfortunately could not convince the scientific community about his findings. For many years scientists believed that protein is a substance which has stored
Although groundbreaking, these discoveries have shown us that scientific progress is more of a long-term investment into human knowledge, and, a priori, such investments require much work and dedication regardless of the results. The whole journey to the discoveries like the one concerning DNA structure is filled with endless hypotheses that scientists have tested multiple times,
Nucleic acid is a complex of organic substance present in living cells, especially DNA or RNA, the molecules are in a long chain. It is used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms.
For many years, There have been many discoveries in the world of science such as; the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by Watson and Crick, the purines and pyrmides of DNA by the Human Genome Project, yet despite discovering genetic changes associated with Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer's Disease, and thousands of other diseases with deleterious genetic mutations, The process of openly altering the structure of DNA and using it in many industries from agriculture to clinical research has only just began.
The discovery in 1953 of the double helix, the twisted-ladder structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), by James Watson and Francis Crick marked a milestone in the history of science and gave rise to modern molecular biology, which is largely concerned with understanding how genes control the chemical processes within cells. In short order, their discovery yielded ground-breaking insights into the genetic code and protein synthesis. During the 1970s and 1980s, it helped to produce new and powerful scientific techniques, specifically recombinant DNA research, genetic engineering, rapid gene sequencing, and monoclonal antibodies, techniques on which today 's multi-billion dollar biotechnology industry is founded. Major current advances in
Discovered in the mid 1960’s. This hypothesis states that the first molecules of life might have been made from clay, basically. That was also a claim from Alexander himself. An experiment was taken place by Dan Luo which was, “looking for inexpensive hydrogels that could be used to produce proteins on a large-scale when they stumbled across the crucial evidence that could help solve one of the greatest mysteries in biology.” They also did experiments using water samples. Reasoning would be that the main role have DNA is to store information on how other molecules should be
If you are sitting on a bus and you look around, you will see a variety of people riding with you. There will be men and women of different races or ethnicity, but everyone in the world is 99.99 percent alike. Scientists have known about this since the discovery of DNA and RNA in the nuclei of cells. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, carries the set of genetic instructions for everyone. What if there was a way that an organism could live without completely relying on DNA? Scientists are working on a new type of genetic acid for alteration and creation. The new acid is called ZNA. The "z" in ZNA, stands for xeno nucleic acid. ZNA would still have the same double helix shape as DNA, but would have different bases. ZNA would not have natural bases
Each repeat comprised of 33 to 34 amino acids. Different repeats vary mostly at position 12 and 13. Amino acids present at these two positions are called repeat variable di-residues (RVDs). Each RVD has preference for a nucleotide. Repeats are modular and can be assembled in required way to bind with any target DNA sequence (Gaber et al, 2014; Meckler et al, 2013). TALEs are thus a powerful and modular tool, which can be engineered to target any DNA sequence. Riboswitches are non-protein coding regulatory RNA, present in 5´ untranslated (UTR) region of mRNA, that upon binding with small molecules or peptides undergo conformational changes to control gene expression at translational level. Riboswitches are conceptually comprised of two parts (i) ligand specific aptamer domain, and (ii) expression platform, which undergoes structural changes in response to the changes in the aptamer (Winkler & Breaker, 2005). Ligand driven conformational change regulates translation either by sequestering ribosome binding site or by releasing it (Caron et al, 2012). Engineered riboswitches have been reported to be modular and work in dose dependent manner (Ceres et al, 2013; Dixon et al, 2010).
Roger David Kornberg was born on September 24, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri as the oldest of Arthur Kornberg and Sylvy Ruth Levy’s three sons. He grew up with very strong science roots as both of his parents were renowned scientists; his mother was a biochemist while his father, also a biochemist, gained notoriety as for his award-winning contribution to the science field. Like how Roger Kornberg would later achieve, Arthur Kornberg co-won the Nobel Prize (1959) in the division of Physiology or Medicine for discovering mechanisms involved in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Roger mentioned the significance that his parents’ careers had on his upbringing in an interview, stating that everything—from leisure activities to dinner conversations—revolved around the world of science. This early influence carried on further in to his life, as Kornberg eventually matriculated to Harvard University to study chemistry. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1967 and resumed his education as a graduate student at Stanford University. There, in 1972, he obtained his Ph.D. in chemical physics. Kornberg’s affiliation with Stanford brought him back in 1978 as a professor in structural biology; the six years since earning his Ph.D. having been spent on post-grad work in Cambridge University (England) and as an assistant professor in Harvard Medical School, where he conducted research in the field of molecular biology and taught biochemistry, respectively. He won his