
Discovery News - Living things self-replicate,
but artificial materials generally don’t.
At least not until now.
but artificial materials generally don’t.
At least not until now.
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Inside a living cell, enzymes split DNA’s ladder-like double helix molecule down the middle, leaving two single strings of nucleotides. The enzymes then tack on new nucleotides to each half in order to create an identical copy. Where there was one double helix of DNA, there is two. The cell then uses the copied DNA to perform a biological function such as build a protein, for example. This replication is crucial to a lifeform’s ability to exist and survive.
In this case, the researchers created two slightly different molecular “tiles,” each one made of 10 strands of DNA.
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