Researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and York in the United Kingdom have revealed visual evidence showing how DNA molecules can be tightly packed together despite their repulsive electrical charges.
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The researchers found that positive ions may help to bind these molecules and hold them close together.
These results support a scientific hypothesis that was put forward more than 20 years ago, and may help to understand how genetic material is organized within cells, and how identical regions of DNA are linked before genetic information is exchanged.
Researchers used a high-resolution microscope to study DNA molecules, and the images revealed how two adjacent molecules stack up. Computer simulations also revealed that positively charged ions, such as nickel, magnesium, and calcium, may act as intermediaries, binding the molecules and helping them stay close together.
Alice Payne, a biophysicist at the University of Sheffield, told ScienceAlert: "The ions help form a bridge between the two molecules, which connects them together."
Researchers have found that the way molecules bond is affected by the sequence of bases that make up DNA. Simulations have shown that certain sequences, including a short sequence known as GTAC, may help form more stable bonds in the presence of nickel ions.
This discovery may contribute to understanding how similar parts of DNA recognize each other, a process that is important for the exchange and recombination of genetic material.
"These images represent the first visual evidence to support this idea," Agnes Noy, a biophysicist at York University, told ScienceAlert.
The DNA experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions, so researchers still need to confirm that the same mechanism occurs within living cells, where proteins and other molecules are involved in regulating genetic material. The study also did not establish a direct link between this mechanism and cancer.
The results may help to clarify how DNA is stacked and organized, and to understand some of the processes that allow the exchange of genetic material.
The study was published in the journal "Nucleic Acids Research".
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