Show threadRicardo HarvinJul 24, 2023

#Synthetic #DNA, what could possibly go wrong? Science isn't really sure how it works, on a fundamental level.

"#DNAzymes" are different from #human DNA but, "...can act as molecular scissors with precise specificity to cut RNA or DNA, or they can function as glue...Say you have a mutated gene...causing disease, we could get this DNA into the cells and...get rid of all that kind of message that's causing the proteins that lead to the disease."

#Eugenics ⚠️

https://phys.org/news/2023-07-capture-atomic-view-synthetic-dna.html

Researchers capture atomic view of synthetic DNA, revealing 'molecular scissors' that could treat disease

West Virginia University researchers are now able to view synthetic DNA at the atomic level, giving them the ability to understand how to change its structure in hopes of enhancing its scissor-like function. Learning more about these synthetic DNA reactions could be the key to unlocking new technology for medical diagnoses and treatments.

Phys.org
Sterling EricssonMay 31, 2023

Gene silencing, while highly useful, has limitations in how specific it can work. Meanwhile, DNA enzymes (DNAzymes) are so accurate they can pick out incorrect alleles in RNA sequences.

But the usage of these is curtailed by their low activity due to needing high environmental magnesium.

Now, researchers have developed a targeted DNAzyme without this problem, able to target disease-causing genes.

#DNA #RNA #Medicine #Enzymes #DNAzymes #GeneSilencing #Science #Scicomm

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38100-9

Chemical evolution of an autonomous DNAzyme with allele-specific gene silencing activity - Nature Communications

Low activity currently prevents the wider use of DNA enzymes (DNAzymes). Here the authors report the chemical evolution of a DNAzyme with high catalytic activity under near physiological conditions: the enzyme achieves ~65 turnovers in 30 minutes.

Nature