DNA Found to Have "Impossible" Telepathic
Properties
By Rebecca Sato. (as reported on dailygalaxy.com)
posted: 06 February 2008
DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability
to put itself together, even at a distance, when according
to known science it shouldn't be able to. Explanation: None,
at least not yet.
Scientists are reporting evidence that
contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact
double-stranded DNA has the “amazing” ability
to recognize similarities in other DNA strands from a distance.
Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny
bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA.
The recognition of similar sequences in DNA’s chemical
subunits, occurs in a way unrecognized by science. There is
no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it
does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat
should be chemically impossible.
Even so, the research published in ACS’
Journal of Physical Chemistry B, shows very clearly that homology
recognition between sequences of several hundred nucleotides
occurs without physical contact or presence of proteins. Double
helixes of DNA can recognize matching molecules from a distance
and then gather together, all seemingly without help from
any other molecules or chemical signals.
In the study, scientists observed the
behavior of fluorescently tagged DNA strands placed in water
that contained no proteins or other material that could interfere
with the experiment. Strands with identical nucleotide sequences
were about twice as likely to gather together as DNA strands
with different sequences. No one knows how individual DNA
strands could possibly be communicating in this way, yet somehow
they do. The “telepathic” effect is a source of
wonder and amazement for scientists.
“Amazingly, the forces responsible
for the sequence recognition can reach across more than one
nanometer of water separating the surfaces of the nearest
neighbor DNA,” said the authors Geoff S. Baldwin, Sergey
Leikin, John M. Seddon, and Alexei A. Kornyshev and colleagues.
This recognition effect may help increase
the accuracy and efficiency of the homologous recombination
of genes, which is a process responsible for DNA repair, evolution,
and genetic diversity. The new findings may also shed light
on ways to avoid recombination errors, which are factors in
cancer, aging, and other health issues.
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