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jojomaniacal t1_j4xui8a wrote

Reply to comment by carbonqubit in "Origami" DNA Traps Could Keep Large Viruses From Infecting Cells: by engineering structures out of DNA, scientists could potentially prevent larger viruses, like coronaviruses and influenza viruses, from interacting with cells. by filosoful

That's pretty interesting, UV tends to cause radicals on DNA, were these addition of radicals what allowed additional bonds to be made or do they have some other mechanism to explain it?

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carbonqubit t1_j4xzyjn wrote

It looks like they used UV light with a wavelength of 310 nm to directly cross-link thymidine bases. Nearby pyrimidines are converted to cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, which then pair with the free thyminde bases to build the cone shaped nanostructures.

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jojomaniacal t1_j4y8lfm wrote

Oh wow that's much more targeted and sophisticated than I was thinking. Origami really fits for what they did there.

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