Greetings guys! Lately, I've been trying to get back on Steemit, and I've been doing so by giving you little tidbits of what I'm doing at my thesis (which is what's keeping me from having a regular presence here :( ).
Last time, I posted about molecular docking, what it was, hpow it worked, yadda yadda. I then hinted that for you to see what I'm doing with my thesis, I'd have to give you another piece of the puzzle.
I will do so now, by speaking to you of G-quadruplexes, fascinating DNA structures that are getting a lot of hype in scientific circles lately.
Let's get started, shall we?
1 - G - quadruplexes are special DNA patterns
You all know what DNA is, I'm just gonna assume that's a given. The building blocks of life are known by anybody at this point.
Here's a little tidbit you might not know, though: DNA is built out of smaller bits, and the most important part of these bits is their base - a little construct made out of nitrogen. There are four different kinds of bases, each with a letter associated – A, C, G and T. Each of the bases has a certain shape and properties.
These bases, all put together, form the DNA chain – the double helix wg«hich is our building block. However, this structure can undergo some changes. Such as the G-quadruplex.
When a sequence like GGG…GGG…GGG… forms, this DNA can take on this crazy shape!
Looks cool right? But what does it mean? What can it do?
2 – G-quadruplexes play many important roles in your body
These little structures end up having a great impact on your metabolism, and potentially, will be what many treatments will target in the future.
It plays many roles within cells, you see – but it’s greatest one, possibly, is that it signals for cancer. Many oncogenes (genes correlated with cancer) have sequences that are highly likely to form G-quadruplexes. By designing drugs that find G-quadruplexes, we basically have homing missiles to shoot at cancerous cells.
That’s not all. These structures have been proven to be somehow related to matters like replicating DNA… or bad stuff, like preventing some enzymes from doing their work.
But enough about theoretical mumbo-jumbo. How can we use these structures to improve our lives?
3 - There are many possible uses for these DNA structures
There are many research projects currently underway which explore this structure’s properties in many different ways.
For example, as I mentioned before, many genes that are related with cancer end up having these structures somewhere in there. They serve as homing beacons for drugs that target cancer.
These structures may also help prevent cancer altogether. By binding certain ligands to them, cancer may be entirely prevented…
Finally, for types of cancer which are often discovered too late, these structures can help detect them before that point. With easy tests made to detect the presence of these structures, cancer can be diagnosed super early on in the onset, potentially saving many lives…
But a lot of research still needs to be done. And there is more to be told… next time!
That wraps this up!
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this article! I'd been meaning to post more often, but ith the fuss about the Christmas and New Year's, I ended up having less time than I thought. Also, I've been having mysterious back pains that honestly sap all the will to write from me.
With this next week, I'll go back to working o my thesis. I will try, however, to start posting regularly again. I can't promise I'll be successfull, but I'm sure to try!
In the meanwhile, sound off in the comments below about what you thought about this article, and how I can improve the next ones!
Till the next one! Steem on!