[Fish]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Anyone want to explain to me the significance of discovering quadruple helix DNA?

Balasubramanian and his colleagues believe their discovery may help make it possible to stop the "runaway cell proliferation at the root of cancer," according to Phys.org. The idea would be to target quadruplexes with "synthetic molecules that trap and contain these DNA structures -- preventing cells from replicating their DNA and consequently blocking cell division," according to Phys.org.

However, the scientists say that much about four-stranded DNA remains a mystery.

“There is a lot we don’t know yet. One thought is that these quadruplex structures might be a bit of a nuisance during DNA replication -- like knots or tangles that form," Balasubramanian said of the discovery, according to a statement released by the university. “Did they evolve for a function? It’s a philosophical question as to whether they are there by design or not -- but they exist and nature has to deal with them. Maybe by targeting them we are contributing to the disruption they cause.”

[...]

“This research further highlights the potential for exploiting these unusual DNA structures to beat cancer -- the next part of this pipeline is to figure out how to target them in tumor cells,” Dr. Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said in a statement posted on the university website. “It’s been sixty years since its structure was solved but work like this shows us that the story of DNA continues to twist and turn.”