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JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2003 95(17):1270-1271; doi:10.1093/jnci/95.17.1270
© 2003 by Oxford University Press
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© 2003 Oxford University Press

NEWS

Deinoccocus radiodurans: Getting a Better Fix on DNA Repair

Robert Longtin

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

It was nearly 50 years ago that the American scientist Arthur W. Anderson eyed an irradiated can of ground meat and made an intriguing discovery. Growing on the meat, seemingly unaffected by the intense ionizing radiation that had killed the other microorganisms around it, was a curious red bacterium.

Follow-up studies confirmed that this organism, later named Deinoccocus radiodurans, not only was radiation resistant, it brought a whole new meaning to the term. At 1 million rads of radiation energy—or 1,000 times the dose of radiation energy dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—the growth of D. radiodurans simply slows down. At 1.75 million rads, about 35% of the bacteria survive, and at 3 million rads, a few copies of the bacterium still cling to life.


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  		Deinoccocus radiodurans is extremely resistant to radiation and has the ability to repair double strand breaks in its DNA.

 
The secret behind its incredible radioresistance lies . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Cancer Model?

New Clues

Funding Agency Interest


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