For DNA, it's all about ...( loops are specially resistant to enzym...)

loops are specially resistant to enzymes that chew up DNA, and they've shown promise as antisense agents to knock out the proteins involved in diseases like leukemia and HIV. The laboratory has also made molecules that can hone in on different targets depending on chemical conditions.

Another far-off application might be a type of artificial DNA, the creation of several entirely new base pairs that would fit together like conventional DNA and code for proteins much like regular DNA has done for millions of years. Experimenting with alternate genetic codes might provide hints about the type of life that might exist elsewhere in the universe. While such a development sounds like the stuff of science fiction, Kool?s work provides one step in that direction. He has already developed several synthetic molecules that can squeeze into natural DNA, and he has overturned decades of dogma by showing that hydrogen bonds are not as vital as shape to the existence and reproduction of DNA.

"The unexpected flexibility of the structure of DNA raises interesting questions about the primordial soup," says Kool. "Why does DNA have the structure it has? How different can we make a molecule and still have it behave like DNA, and still have life?"

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Contact: Tom Rickey
trickey@admin.rochester.edu
716-275-7954
University of Rochester
16-Jun-1999

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