Thread: DNA

If we have one single cell of a dead creature in conditions that maintain the cell's inegrity such as low temperature or special fluids in which the cell could stay whithout been affected by the abrasion of death, could it after death start multiply? Could some genes on the DNA start to act again?


Bad English i know.

Yes, it would be called a clone. But generally, in the current state of the art, clone are a mix, of an ovocyt where the nucleus is removed and a nucleus, coming from a cell of the body you want to replicate

Yes but can a human DNA molecule alone by itshelf in the proper conditions start to activate its genes and start to mutate in order to survive?

Originally Posted by zeus

Yes but can a human DNA molecule alone by itshelf in the proper conditions start to activate its genes and start to mutate in order to survive?

Not if the cell is dead. Without the cell intact and functioning, the DNA is useless.

Mr U

When can we say that a cell is dead?

When there is no more production of energy (respiration or photosynthesis) and/or there is no more transport of materials between organelles, the outside, and the inside of the cell.

The cell doesn't always need to be replicating to be alive, but it does always need to be doing something (AKA, getting energy and/or transporting materials).

Unless I overlooked something...

-Ajain

The cell is dead when it can no longer divide.
When it is no longer senescent.

Note: Some cells are stalled in the Go phase and that is how they are useful, but under the right conditions you can manipulate them to divide. Cells that are dead, either lack telomeres or have some other defect so that no matter what they can not divide.

What is a gene made up of?

The best definition of a gene is a stretch of DNA, that does not have to be continuous, which is transcribed. It has to have a product, whether it be an RNA or translated into a protein.

Originally Posted by zeus

Yes but can a human DNA molecule alone by itshelf in the proper conditions start to activate its genes and start to mutate in order to survive?

Evolution suggests that at some point RNA and/or DNA may have once been on their own. Things were different then. Our DNA needs the cell.

I think it may have only been RNA that could replicate on its own... not sure. Someone else can probably clearify.

***

It is a defective gene, it may just be a suceptibility to a disease (like heart attack) or a genetic problem like Huntingtons disease (where if you have the gene you have the disease).

***

Well think about it if your offspring has you DNA it has your DNA - whatever is encoded into the portions of your DNA inherited your offspring will have or may further pass on.

***

No problem, half of it is probably my decaying mind failing to spot the obvious...

DNA carries information in the sequence of the nucleotides.

Originally Posted by Searcher

how a DNA or protein can carry information?

It's a great question.
What is information?
How does your computer carry information?
Does information exist without a translater?
If so than what is the point of the translater?
Shall I continue?

To summarize it: DNA is copied by RNA which is then translated (by a ribosome) into a sequence of amino acids which link up to become a protein. Keep in mind this is very simplified. There are many other mechanisms involved.

The trick is to think of it differently than you are used to. You are used to thinking of information as words in a book or on the screen. In DNA the information is the DNA itself. You are your DNA. Hope this helps. It's pretty weird stuff.

Information is stored on DNA in the form of a sequence of nitrogenous bases ( Adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine). Each three bases code for one amino acid. mRNA, makes a copy of a part of the DNA, which is an exact opposite of the code on the DNA strand. It then goes to the ribosome, which is the translator. The amino acids are also brought to the ribosomes by a type of RNA known as transfer RNA. Ribosomes read the code on transfer RNA, and the code on mRNA, compare them, and then arrange the amino acids in the specific sequence, exactly as it is coded for on the DNA strand!!