Month: September 2022

SYNTHETIC DNA. "From the moment life gained a foothold on Earth the diversity of organisms has been written in a DNA code of four letters. The latest study moves life beyond G, T, C and A – the molecules or bases that pair up in the DNA helix – and introduces two new letters of life: X and Y." https://lnkd.in/eKdazAS View in LinkedIn

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR SYNTHETIC DNA. "DNA, made up of four nucleotide molecules in a sequence, is a code that can be edited and written — not unlike software. The commercialization of DNA sequencing (the reading of an organism’s code) and synthesis (the writing of that code) has accelerated since the mapping of the human genome was completed in 2003." https://cdn.ampproject.org/c/venturebeat.com/2017/01/26/could-synthetic-dna-be-the-next-tech-breakthrough/amp/ View in LinkedIn

ARTIFICIAL NEW THIRD BASE PAIR. "What we have now, for the first time, is an organism that stably harbours a third base pair, and it is utterly different to the natural ones," Romesberg said. For now the synthetic DNA does not do anything in the cell. It just sits there. But Romesberg now wants to tweak the organism so that it can put the artificial DNA to good use." https://lnkd.in/eKdazAS View in LinkedIn

"SYNTHETIC XENO DNA (XDNA, foreign DNA) is made by synthetic biologists from the Cambridge MRC Unit to function like DNA. A host of alternative nucleic acids have been made in labs over the years, but no one has made them work like DNA. Now that has been cracked. It is a twisted ladder with a backbone not of phosphates and sugars but cyclohexane and threose, and they engineered polymerase enzymes to work with XDNA to translate DNA to XDNA and back again as an evolving genetic system. It would also serve as a failsafe for escaped GMOs, and make new life forms." https://lnkd.in/dYQeS-P View in LinkedIn

SIGNIFICANCE OF XDNA. "Scientists have created artificial genetic material that can store information and evolve over generations in a similar way to DNA - a feat expected to drive research in medicine and biotechnology, and shed light on how molecules first replicated and assembled into life billions of years ago. Ultimately, the creation of alternatives to DNA could enable scientists to make novel forms of life in the laboratory." https://lnkd.in/dcUY9Jt View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE deals with culturally confined knowledge, often due to language barriers. Think: 100 years of phage antibiotic therapy in Russia; think: surgery under accupuncture for centuries; and now, think: Mugifumi, or the beneficial aspects of touch in plants. Language is not the only barrier to knowledge diffusion: scientific resistance to new ideas is perhaps more impeding. View in LinkedIn

"THE ABILITY TO SENSE and respond to a wide variety of mechanical stimuli—gravity, touch, osmotic pressure, or the resistance of the cell wall—is a critical feature of every plant cell, whether or not it is specialized for mechanotransduction." https://lnkd.in/dazh-wp View in LinkedIn

PLANTS AND TOUCH. "Plant morphogenesis and its regulation have fascinated researchers for more than two centuries. Among determinants of morphogenesis mechanical signals appear as an important cue. The fact that plants respond to mechanical stimuli was reported by Darwin in the 1850's." https://lnkd.in/duaG7mX View in LinkedIn

SAYING. "The wind makes the tree stronger." https://lnkd.in/d8T-4_M View in LinkedIn

MUGIFUMI. "Japanese farmers have known for centuries of the efficacy of applying a mechanical stress—treading, trampling, or stamping—to the seedlings of autumn-sown wheat and barley, and call this process “mugifumi” [mugifúmi] in Japanese." https://lnkd.in/dDuN9mZ View in LinkedIn