Caroline Crichlow-Ball's Deinococcus Radiodurans Research Notes

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• Deinococcus Radiodurans= “strange berry that withstands radiation”

·         Nicknamed “Conan the Bacterium”

·         Pinkish-red appearance

·         Eubacteria

·         Not harmful to humans.

·         Discovered in 1956 when canned meat that had been sterilized with radiation spoiled.

·         Can withstand 1.5 mil to 3 mil rads*; humans can only withstand 50 to 100 rads

·         Most bacteria will die if there is a double-strand break in their DNA, or it will mutate. DCR has multiple copies of its genome, so it can repair itself within 12-24 hours of radiation damage.  It also puts its DNA back in the right order, so it doesn’t mutate.

o   Ways it can put itself back together:

§  Extra DNA.

§  Protein RecA finds parts of undamaged DNA and puts them together.

§  Shuts down cell building while DNA is repaired.

§  Broken DNA stays in one place which makes it easier to fix.

·         Possible uses:

o   Cleaning up radioactive and toxic sites

o   Medicines for radiation sickness from chemo or space travel

o   Boost DNA repair in humans

o   Terraforming Mars

·         Its special ability withstand radiation stems from evolving to withstand chronic dehydration

·         Since it can withstand amounts of radiation not commonly found on Earth, scientists think it may have come from outer space.

·         Scientists think it is about 2 billion years old.

·         Can survive in pretty much environment (such as toxic waste sites, thermal vent pools found in oceans, ice cores, salty lake beds, very deep in the earth).

* - denotes words defined under Definitions