{"id":37680,"date":"2023-09-27T21:58:19","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T21:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/"},"modified":"2023-09-27T21:58:20","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T21:58:20","slug":"to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/","title":{"rendered":"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna-20230926\/#comments<\/a><\/br>
\nTo Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA<\/br>
\n2023-09-27 21:58:19<\/br><\/p>\n

\n

Marie Delattre was studying the sexual reproduction practices of microscopic worms when she noticed something unexpected. Under the microscope, an embryo of the nematode Mesorhabditis belari<\/i> was dividing as it should, progressing from one cell to two to four. But inside a few cells she saw an inexplicable spray of DNA fragments floating around where they didn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was DNA everywhere, inside the nuclei and outside the nuclei \u2014 big chunks of DNA,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it was a dead embryo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The embryo was not dead, but it was doing something that usually only dead cells do: destroying its genome. \u201cI started to try to trace when these fragments appear, at what stage, and what they look like,\u201d said Delattre<\/a>, a cell biologist at the \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure in Lyon. \u201cThat\u2019s how I figured out that this is not accidental. All the embryos did this.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Delattre had stumbled across, and what she and her lab described in a paper published in August in Current Biology<\/i><\/a>, was an instance of programmed DNA elimination (PDE), in which organisms seem to purposefully eliminate portions of their genome. It\u2019s an odd phenomenon that flies in the face of the precept that a genome is a vital, sacrosanct resource to be passed on faithfully to the next generation.<\/p>\n

So far, researchers have identified PDE in only about 100 species across all branches of life: Single-celled ciliates with multiple nuclei do PDE; so do tiny worms, as well as the meters-long intestinal parasites of horses, many insects, and even songbirds. But PDE can be so difficult to spot that no one knows how common it really is. \u201cIt\u2019s not very well known even among biologists,\u201d Delattre said.<\/p>\n

In addition to confirming the existence of another case of PDE, Delattre\u2019s new paper also hints at an explanation for it. PDE points to a long-running fight between cells and DNA sequences that are of no use to their owner, or maybe even weigh it down. Like gardeners, cells must protect their genomes to remain functional and productive. What should a cell do when the weeds come in? The new study suggests that some species, like M. belari<\/i>, might just pull the weeds out using PDE.<\/p>\n

Despite its seeming novelty, PDE was discovered in the early days of molecular biology, long before researchers even knew that DNA is life\u2019s genetic material. In 1887, the German biologist Theodor Boveri was studying the development of Parascaris<\/i>, a nematode that parasitizes horses, when he witnessed its large genome coalesce, fragment and then reassemble into smaller portions during mitosis. The missing pieces were seemingly trashed without ceremony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n

Uncategorized<\/br>
\n<\/br>
\nSource:https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna-20230926\/#comments<\/a><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source:https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna-20230926\/#comments To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA 2023-09-27 21:58:19 Marie Delattre was studying the sexual reproduction practices of microscopic worms when she noticed something unexpected. Under the microscope, an embryo of the nematode Mesorhabditis belari was dividing as it should, progressing from one cell to two to four. But inside a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTo Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source:https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna-20230926\/#comments To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA 2023-09-27 21:58:19 Marie Delattre was studying the sexual reproduction practices of microscopic worms when she noticed something unexpected. Under the microscope, an embryo of the nematode Mesorhabditis belari was dividing as it should, progressing from one cell to two to four. But inside a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-27T21:58:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-27T21:58:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/\",\"name\":\"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA - Science and Nerds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-27T21:58:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-27T21:58:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/\",\"name\":\"Science and Nerds\",\"description\":\"My WordPress Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA - Science and Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA - Science and Nerds","og_description":"Source:https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna-20230926\/#comments To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA 2023-09-27 21:58:19 Marie Delattre was studying the sexual reproduction practices of microscopic worms when she noticed something unexpected. Under the microscope, an embryo of the nematode Mesorhabditis belari was dividing as it should, progressing from one cell to two to four. But inside a […]","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/","og_site_name":"Science and Nerds","article_published_time":"2023-09-27T21:58:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-27T21:58:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/","name":"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA - Science and Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","datePublished":"2023-09-27T21:58:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-27T21:58:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2023\/09\/27\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/","name":"Science and Nerds","description":"My WordPress Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/to-defend-the-genome-these-cells-destroy-their-own-dna_6514a57bf1083.webp?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37682,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37680\/revisions\/37682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}