Repairing Genetic Mutations With Lasers?

Roland Piquepaille writes "German researchers at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) think they've proved that genetic information can be controlled by light. The group studied the interaction between the four DNA bases — adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T) — by using femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The researchers think that they've demonstrated that DNA strands differ in their light sensitivity depending on their base sequences. The team thinks that it might be possible in the future to repair gene mutations using laser radiation. One of the project leaders said that 'it might even be possible under some circumstances to make transistors from DNA that would work through the hydrogen bonds.' It's not the first time I've heard about DNA computing, but this new approach looks promising."

good work

[nicknamenottaken]

Good to see they're shedding light on the topic

Re:

[cailith1970]

Warning! Do not look at laser with remaining genetically mutated eye.

woohoo!

[db32]

Eugenics here we come!

I have a wonderfully hilarious image of fundamentalists chasing homosexuals around with flashlights because they read the dumbed down Fox friendly version of this story.

Re:woohoo!

[AdmiralXyz]

Does anyone else find it a really disturbing sign of the times that the parent was modded Insightful, not Funny?

Re:woohoo!

[techno-vampire]

Relax; it's probably just another case of using Insightful instead of Funny to give the poster an undeserved karma point.

Re:

[sgbett]

I considered modding you funny, but felt the irony might be missed!

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[db32]

I find it terribly disturbing and I am the poster!

Though, to be serious, this type of science inevitably comes down to "cure those who are different".

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

In the defense of this, many times this being "different" is a severe biological inconvenience, and many people would like to be cured.

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[philspear]

I find it more disturbing that it was marked overrated: that indicates that there may be some fundamentalists who already chase homosexuals with flashlights after watching fox, and they were offended.

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[noidentity]

Notice how this is about repairing mere mutations (different = BAD), rather than defects?

Re:woohoo! Hmmm. Torchsong Trilogy could end

[davidsyes]

up being Torchlight Tragedy...?

But, in the end if this is "God's" work, then assuming God is perfect, then all is as God wanted, and the humans are simply delusional through and through.

Imagine the human body a car. The will the driver. If a sect or subclass of humans decides they have divination to go and destroy the genome with a flashlight (or by earth-shaking Sunday sermons and witch hunts, etc.) then the general population should be interested in or consider taking up maces, chain lines, and mauls and

Re:

[Nefarious Wheel]

What was that Jack asked/implored in, what, Witches of Eastwick: "Why can't we all just GET ALONG?"?

So that's where that came from!

It's one of the Warlock imp's quotes in World of Warcraft.

Good to know that Jack's legacy will live on in the entertainment world.

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[davidsyes]

I truly will devote a few minutes tonight offering any offerable karma that might benefit you. I don't know why you're on a mission to disparage me. I get it enough here, and you're way over the top. I don't know you, don't care to engage in duels, spars, barbs with you. I truly hope you find peace and calm in your life. Life is short. Try to enjoy it without undue stress. I'm sure you have talents and inclinations that could be of benefit to many many people. I'm not worth the energy you're expending. I'm

Re:

[xant]

Fundies believe homosexuality is learned. If you see any running around holding flashlights in their fists, it's not eugenics, it's closeted gayness.

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[db32]

Why else would they have flashlights other than to see in the dark closet?

That being said, I wouldn't say all fundies think it is learned. I remember not so long ago there was a fairly large push to "cure" the gay gene by some of their think tanks.

Misleading headline

[robinsonne]

From reading TFA, the researchers have seen that different bases will fluoresce different lengths of time when they shoot a laser at them. I can see where it might help with sequencing (as is mentioned in TFA) by recognizing the presumably fast glow pattern, but anything beyond that is plain wishful thinking on the part of the writer.

One might also envisage linking the photophysical properties to genetic characteristics. When these mechanisms are better understood, it might in the long term become possible to repair gene mutations using laser radiation.

I can imagine breeding flying pigs too, but I don't see it happening anytime soon either.

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[philspear]

Yeah, I don't see any indication that you can actually manipulate genes in vivo using light at all. The quote by the researcher looks like it's only about diagnosing, observation. No mechanism at all about manipulation. It seems to be whoever was writing the article put that in without knowing anything about it.

You have billions of base pairings in your genome, and each cell has a copy. The genome is in the nucleus of each cell, and most of your cells are, of course, inside of you. Even if you did surg

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[Rutulian]

Forget about the cell biology. What about the chemistry and physics? How can laser light change a base pair? Radiation can induce mutations because it can, among other things, promote photochemical reactions that make bases or base pairs unrecognizable to the cell machinery. As a result, polymerases introduce mismatched bases when replicating a sequence. I cannot think of any possible way of directly converting, say, a thymidine to a cytidine by irradiating it. Doesn't mean it's not possible, but certainly

Re:

[moderatorrater]

to create velociraptors by exposing frogs to

That could only lead to chaos.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I accidentally to gene mutations. Is this bad?

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[Nefarious Wheel]

That sentence no verb!

How about natural genetic anomalies?

[nurb432]

Like the ones that cause hair loss in men that was discovered earlier this week. :)

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[nurb432]

Umm a 3 second search on here ..

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/12/1931233 [slashdot.org]

Laser radiation?

[Relic of the Future]

Is that like a pin number?

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[Wizard Drongo]

And what "LASER" stands for has just gone flying over your head at the, well the speed of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

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[john83]

I have just such an amplification in my lab.

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[bane2571]

To be pedantic:

The term "laser" is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (Wikipedia)

So it is exactly like PIN number

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[chihowa]

To be doubly pedantic, the acronym LASER describes a process and not a product. Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation is a process by which you make coherent, sometimes monochromatic, light. So laser radiation would describe the radiation produced by the LASER process.

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[bane2571]

That's ummm... well...hmmm.

Touche!

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[weirdo557]

more like an atm machine

Light Therapy

[Nefarious Wheel]

Interestingly, some of the Edgar Cayce trance-inspired therapies involved exposure to light in specific wavelengths. I wonder how well those went, and if there's any correspondence?

Laser beams

[Krneki]

Now we just need a couple of sharks.

Huh?

[stainlesssteelpat]

I think i saw something like this in an old film called "fantastic voyage. But where will they get the minature sharks?

Who decides what constitutes a 'mutation'?

[Lead Butthead]

The time we start dictating what a genetic 'standard' is and classifying variations as 'mutations' is when we start playing God.

Re:

[endymion.nz]

Funny, they said that about polio vaccines.

Okay, now I get it...

[RudeIota]

The Turtles and Splinter all lived in the dark, light forbidden labyrinth of the sewer... Coincidence?

It all makes sense now.

Great. A cancer ray.

[Iowan41]

Or name-your-genetic-disease-here. Putin will be thrilled.

I wonder...

[Ihmhi]

...if this can be weaponized? Like a laser that causes people's genes to horribly mutate.

Repairing vs. reversing

[Phillibuster]

I think 'reversing' would be a better word than 'repairing'. Not every mutation is harmful (though I'm sure a vast majority aren't beneficial).

This is nothing new ...

[ScrewMaster]

I remember reading about a miniaturized submarine that was injected into a Russian defector, so that the teeny tiny crew could use a laser to repair a blood clot.

We'll just resequence your DNA

[Analogy Man]

Now all those Trek episodes where they do genetic level medical procedures with a blue flashlight are a tiny bit less fantasy.

very bad summary

[Rutulian]

Ok, that certainly has to be the worst layman's summary of a scientific paper I have ever seen. The actual article is here. [sciencemag.org] You will need a subscription to Science to read it, which most university libraries have. The researchers have used time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to measure excited state lifetimes of DNA molecules. They found--surprise!--that the mean lifetimes are dependent on the structure of the molecules, which is ultimately dependent on the sequence.

These are very difficult experiments to do, and the data is good, but there isn't anything particularly breathtaking about the results. Perhaps the resolution is a bit amazing. It is theoretically expected that sequences of 5'-d(AAGAAAAGAAAAGAAAAGAA)-3' and 5'-d(AAGAAGAAGAAGAAGAAGAA)-3' would have different decay properties, but you might not expect it to be measurable by an ensemble technique.

Anyway, none of this has anything to do with the summary. This isn't "light sensitivity" of DNA. This can't be applied to DNA sequencing, at least not in any practical way. And there is no possibility of repairing genetic mutations with light. The computing thing...also quite a bit of a stretch. Of course, this isn't Roland's fault. He just quoted the German press release....

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[john83]

You know, this is why I still read Slashdot. In the midst of all the overlord jokes, the google-bashing and the inane repetition of people's opinions on the failed state of IP law, there's generally one guy who actually knows what he's talking about. Thank you.

The researchers have used time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to measure excited state lifetimes of DNA molecules... It is theoretically expected that sequences of 5'-d(AAGAAAAGAAAAGAAAAGAA)-3' and 5'-d(AAGAAGAAGAAGAAGAAGAA)-3' would have different decay properties, but you might not expect it to be measurable by an ensemble technique.

So are these guys the first to do an ensemble measurement of this?

Anyway, none of this has anything to do with the summary... Of course, this isn't Roland's fault. He just quoted the German press release....

Ah, Roland. I should have noticed. Anyway, it's interesting to read the release and see what remarks are supported by quotes. As ever, the biggest claims aren't supported, but they are

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[Rutulian]

So are these guys the first to do an ensemble measurement of this?

They aren't the first to measure mean excited state lifetimes on DNA molecules. Without doing a literature search, though, I think they are the first to try to systematically measure it with regard to the single-stranded DNA sequence.

As ever, the biggest claims aren't supported, but they are the ones which get reported.

Yeah, unfortunately this happens a lot, often by the people doing the science in addition to the media. Sadly, it's what gets funding and keeps the public interest.