From ScienceDaily:
A process that cells use to unravel knotted strands of DNA — resembling a method used to control climbing ropes — has been uncovered by scientists.
The findings help explain how about 2 metres of DNA can be neatly packaged in each of our cells, in a space that is about the width of a hair.
Scientists have identified two sets of proteins in cells that work together to keep the strands unknotted, avoiding tangles that would hamper vital biological processes.
These proteins are found in many organisms, and scientists believe that their role in managing DNA may be common throughout nature.
One family of proteins — known as SMC — acts like a belay device used by rock climbers, which passes ropes through a series of loops.
These proteins have been found to work alongside another set, known as TopoII, which was previously thought to help solve tangles, but in a way that was not well understood. Paper. (open access) – Enzo Orlandini, Davide Marenduzzo, Davide Michieletto. Synergy of topoisomerase and structural-maintenance-of-chromosomes proteins creates a universal pathway to simplify genome topology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019; 201815394 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1815394116 More.
It all just swished into place among unthinking cells billions of yours ago. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Go tell it on the mountain.
See also: Before you go: DNA as a laster of resource recycling
The amazing energy efficiency of cells: A science writer compares the cell to human inventions and finds that it is indeed amazingly energy-efficient.
In addition to DNA, our cells have an instruction language written in sugar Of course it all just tumbled into existence and “natural selection” somehow organized everything. As if.
Cells find optimal solutions. Not just good ones.
Researchers build “public library” to help understand photosynthesisWait. “The part of the plant responsible for photosynthesis is like a complex machine made up of many parts, … ” And machines just happen all by themselves, right? There is no information load to account for; it just evolved by natural selection acting on random mutation the way your Android did!
In Nature: Cells have “secret conversations” We say this a lot: That’s a lot of information to have simply come into being by natural selection acting on random mutation (Darwinism). It’s getting not only ridiculous but obviously ridiculous.
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Researchers: Helpful gut microbes send messages to their hosts If the strategy is clearly identified, they should look for non-helpful microbes that have found a way to copy it (horizontal gene transfer?)
Cells and proteins use sugars to talk to one another Cells are like Neanderthal man. They get smarter every time we run into them. And just think, it all just tumbled into existence by natural selection acting on random mutations (Darwinism) too…
Researchers: First animal cell was not simple; it could “transdifferentiate” From the paper: “… these analyses offer no support for the homology of sponge choanocytes and choanoflagellates, nor for the view that the first multicellular animals were simple balls of cells with limited capacity to differentiate.”
“Interspecies communication” strategy between gut bacteria and mammalian hosts’ genes described
Researchers: Cells Have A Repair Crew That Fixes Local Leaks
Researchers: How The Immune System “Thinks”
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Researcher: Mathematics Sheds Light On “Unfathomably Complex” Cellular Thinking
How do cells in the body know where they are supposed to be?
Researchers A Kill Cancer Code Is Embedded in Every Cell