12/31/2023 0 Comments Science daily geneticsTo determine that structure, they turned - in the new study - to their long-time collaborator, NHLBI senior investigator Dr. But they didn't know what structure lettuce used to acquire this ability. Jaffrey and his team discovered lettuce by making many single-stranded DNAs and screening for those with the desired fluorophore-activating ability. The researchers demonstrated the lettuce-fluorophore combination as a fluorescent tag for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.ĭr. Jaffrey dubbed "lettuce" for the color of its fluorescent emissions, works by binding to another small organic molecule, a potentially fluorescent "fluorophore" similar to the one at the heart of GFP, and squeezing it in a way that activates its ability to fluoresce. Jaffrey and colleagues reported discovering one such molecule: a single-stranded DNA that folds in a way that allows it to mimic the activity of GFP. All of the other complex biological processes in cells are done by other types of molecules, especially proteins. Samie Jaffrey, Greenberg-Starr Professor of Pharmacology and a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.ĭNA in nature exists mostly in a double-stranded, "twisted ladder" or "helical" form, and serves as a relatively stable store of genetic information. "These findings really change our understanding of what we can do with DNA," said study co- author Dr. ![]() An all-DNA fluorescent tag that mimics GFP, for example, would often be ideal for labeling targeted pieces of DNA in biological studies and in diagnostic test kits, and would be relatively inexpensive to make. ![]() The findings advance the science of how DNA can be made to fold into complex shapes, and will help researchers build such DNA molecules for a variety of laboratory and clinical applications. GFP, which was derived from jellyfish, has become an important laboratory tool, functioning as a fluorescent tag or beacon in cells. In the study, published June 21 in Nature, the researchers used high-resolution imaging techniques to reveal the novel and complex structure of a DNA molecule they created that mimics the activity of a protein called green fluorescent protein (GFP).
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