Worms at Chernobyl resistant to mutation.

Hoping this is not viewed as a sidetrack, but as another piece of the puzzle. I see a possible connection between microtubules and "insulation"(?) from radiation? This is outside my scope of knowledge, so if anyone can offer a comment or link to a pertinent paper,
I think it might be interesting in context of radiation resistance during mitosis

Are microtubules electron-based topological insulators?
Varsha Subramanyan1, Kay L. Kirkpatrick2,1, Saraswathi Vishveshwara3 and Smitha Vishveshwara1
Published 15 August 2023 • Copyright © 2023 The author(s)

more..... https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1209/0295-5075/acec94

 

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Reported for thread hijacking.

 

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One step forward which I acknowledged, then MT and a ban.

I am hoping you take what you need to from this.

 

I had trouble posting to the article so I have contacted the site. I have an account there now so should be no issue as far as I am concerned.

Thanks for reporting the side track. I was actually engaging in what I thought was the first proper interaction with him then the next post was MT. I was actually disappointed, thought I had got somewhere.

 

I really do think we have to stop Write4U corrupting otherwise intelligent and informative threads with his obsessions. He has wrecked countless discussions in the past by introducing red herrings and I for one have really had enough of it. Ideally I would have preferred it if his post had been excised from the thread and dumped, but I'm not a mod.

Back to the topic, here's an absorption spectrum I found for melanin:

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The visible spectrum extends to the right from about 380nm, so everything to the left is UV absorption.


Melanin seems to comprise a wide range of poorly characterised polymers of 5,6-dihydroxyindole and related species:

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I gather melanin precursors are formed from tyrosine:

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The red squiggly lines indicate linkages to form polymer chains. One can see that these heterocyclic aromatic units, with or without further conjugation via polymer chains, are likely to have π* orbitals that can be populated by UV absorption.

As for a role as radical scavengers, I think I recall phenolic and quinone type molecules are good at stabilising free radicals, as they can give up H• from the hydroxyl group to react with a radical and then delocalise the remaining odd electron round the aromatic rings, i.e. in a π* orbital. What I don't believe is that molecules of this type can have any special role in absorbing nuclear (α, β or γ) radiation directly, since that will be a function of the atomic nuclei present, which are just C, N, O, H as found in all other organic molecules.

 

Yes please. Not just because it is my thread and something I am interested in, but because this is an interesting subject that can teach us a lot about, mutation, genetics, and evolution.

 

Ok, a little bit of reading/catch up is required from my side.

Thanks for contributing. I will feedback if the org gets back.