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Asked by AnimalLover to Stéphane on 13 Mar 2018.
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Stéphane Berneau answered on 13 Mar 2018:
DNA can be damaged by the sun (if you stay too long under UV, not really happening today tho)> Smoking is known to increase DNA damages in cells (even sperm).
However, in humans, we have a good DNA reparation system.I have selected this nice animation:
Enjoy
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Comments
Gemma commented on :
DNA is a very stable molecule, that’s why we can isolate it from ancient samples like Neanderthals. It is one of, if not, the best ways of storing information that we have: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/dna-could-store-all-worlds-data-one-room
But, yes, you can break it. UV light is a pretty good way of doing so. So much so that we often use UV as a way to disinfect parts of laboratories and even water; that works by breaking the DNA in any bacteria that are present and causing the bacteria to die.
Our cells have mechanisms to repair DNA if it gets damaged. If these repair mechanisms don’t work properly then we are more likely to get cancer as our DNA is more likely to accumulate changes in its code. There are some genetic conditions where people are born without the ability to repair DNA well, for example Xeroderma pigmentosum: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/xeroderma-pigmentosum#.
AnimalLover commented on :
Thanks for commenting, Gemma!
AnimalLover commented on :
Thanks Stephane! Love that animation!