'Quadruple helix' DNA seen in human cells

Subject: 'Quadruple helix' DNA seen in human cells Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:21 pm

Cambridge University scientists say they have seen four-stranded DNA at work in human cells for the first time.

'Quadruple helix' DNA seen in human cells 6538138065381379

The famous "molecule of life", which carries our genetic code, is more familiar to us as a double helix.

But researchers tell the journal Nature Chemistry that the "quadruple helix" is also present in our cells, and in ways that might possibly relate to cancer.

They suggest that control of the structures could provide novel ways to fight the disease.

"The existence of these structures may be loaded when the cell has a certain genotype or a certain dysfunctional state," said Prof Shankar Balasubramanian from Cambridge's department of chemistry.

"We need to prove that; but if that is the case, targeting them with synthetic molecules could be an interesting way of selectively targeting those cells that have this dysfunction," he told BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21091066#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

'Quadruple helix' DNA seen in human cells

'Quadruple helix' DNA seen in human cells

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