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  • Subject: DNA imaged with electron microscope for the first time
Subject: DNA imaged with electron microscope for the first time

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New Scientist:
It's the most famous corkscrew in history. Now an electron microscope has captured the famous Watson-Crick double helix in all its glory, by imaging threads of DNA resting on a silicon bed of nails. The technique will let researchers see how proteins, RNA and other biomolecules interact with DNA.

The structure of DNA was originally discovered using X-ray crystallography. This involves X-rays scattering off atoms in crystallised arrays of DNA to form a complex pattern of dots on photographic film. Interpreting the images requires complex mathematics to figure out what crystal structure could give rise to the observed patterns.

The new images are much more obvious, as they are a direct picture of the DNA strands, albeit seen with electrons rather than X-ray photons. The trick used by Enzo di Fabrizio at the University of Genoa, Italy, and his team was to snag DNA threads out of a dilute solution and lay them on a bed of nanoscopic silicon pillars.

The team developed a pattern of pillars that is extremely water-repellent, causing the moisture to evaporate quickly and leave behind strands of DNA stretched out and ready to view. The team also drilled tiny holes in the base of the nanopillar bed, through which they shone beams of electrons to make their high-resolution images. The results reveal the corkscrew thread of the DNA double helix, clearly visible. With this technique, researchers should be able to see how single molecules of DNA interact with other biomolecules.

Pic 1
DNA strung between two nanopillars

So yeah. That's cool.

  • 12.07.2012 7:00 PM PDT

Per Audacia Ad Astra

That white line is a string of DNA?

The DNA is incredibly squashed.

[Edited on 12.07.2012 7:02 PM PST]

  • 12.07.2012 7:01 PM PDT
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Posted by: Bungie Sam
That white line is a string of DNA?
Holy crap, that is awesome!

  • 12.07.2012 7:02 PM PDT
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Posted by: NewRadical12

So yeah. That's cool.



It's beautiful, that's what it is.

  • 12.07.2012 7:02 PM PDT

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[Edited on 12.07.2012 7:05 PM PST]

  • 12.07.2012 7:03 PM PDT

Per Audacia Ad Astra

The DNA strand doesn't look like a double helix.
It looks more like a spiked line and the frequency of the strand, so to speak, is incredible high.

  • 12.07.2012 7:05 PM PDT
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  • 12.07.2012 7:05 PM PDT

Per Audacia Ad Astra

I wonder how much of the DNA strand you would have to alter for significant changes to be made.

  • 12.07.2012 7:07 PM PDT

Yeah Science!

  • 12.07.2012 7:08 PM PDT
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I don't need no stinking signature!


Posted by: Bungie Sam
That white line is a string of DNA?

The DNA is incredibly squashed.


According to the article, it says that is actually a 'cord' of 7 DNA strands wrapped around eachother

  • 12.07.2012 7:10 PM PDT


Posted by: Bungie Sam
The DNA strand doesn't look like a double helix.
It looks more like a spiked line and the frequency of the strand, so to speak, is incredible high.


Remember that the models we're used to seeing are more to make DNA easier to understand. they aren't meant to be visually accurate.

  • 12.07.2012 7:12 PM PDT

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What use all those incredible firework dimensions if no eye fixes and reflects, no brain takes notes, no heart moves with passion at the display?

NASA answers the silent cry of the Cosmos for recognition.

NASA is the witness and we fellow witnesses to the endless deeps.


Posted by: Bungie Sam
I wonder how much of the DNA strand you would have to alter for significant changes to be made.


Swapping single genes in the coding regions of DNA can alter a particular aspect of the phenotype quite well - the vast majority of the strand in junk DNA though - and we haven't a concrete idea of it's purpose.

  • 12.07.2012 7:14 PM PDT
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Fascinating.

  • 12.07.2012 7:18 PM PDT


Posted by: Bungie Sam
I wonder how much of the DNA strand you would have to alter for significant changes to be made.


Significant changes in what? If you're talking about an organism's phenotype, anywhere from a single base or a slight change in conformation, to removing huge sections of DNA. It all depends.

  • 12.07.2012 7:22 PM PDT

B-boring.

  • 12.07.2012 7:37 PM PDT