National Geographic goes beyond the veil for a close look at the life-bringing secrets of resurrection bacteria:
Using such clues, D. radiodurans can piece together all of its DNA in about three hours, even if it was split into hundreds of pieces.
“It’s true that DNA is life,” [Miroslav Radman, a molecular geneticist at Université René Descartes in Paris, France,] said.
“As long as you can reconstitute the database of life, which is DNA, you can … start life again.”
The new study “is certainly the biggest advance in understanding the mechanism of radiation resistance” in this well-studied species, said John Battista, a biology professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Other radiation-resistant microorganisms might use the same mechanism, Battista and Radman agree.
The process could also inspire ideas for repairing our own cells, Radman says.
“It could teach us, maybe one day, how to resurrect dead or close-to-dead neurons [brain cells],” Radman said.
Deinococcus radiodurans is best known for its ability to survive extreme environments. Like the insides of nuclear reactors. Radio-durans, get it?