X-Message-Number: 1055 From: Subject: Please post Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 02:14:38 PDT > To: Scott Keeney > Re: DNA Encryption - Cryomsg #1052 You are considerable more recent and in much greater depth than I am. Questions; 1) Does the term "quadruple-stranded DNA" make any sense to you? 2) Where do you normally find *Deinococcus*? 3) How many families of radiation-resistant bacteria did you come across in your literature search? 4) Do these critters actually live in reactors? I understand, in a very casual fashion, that the internal flux of an operating reactor is about 30,000 rads/hour, so that seems feasable, but steam engineers are very fussy about the purity of the water they put through their creations, which makes for lousy food prospects. Which is to ask, what do they eat? 5) If they live in reactors, where do they get the energy to drive their metabolic processes? 6) Did you see any speculation on how they might have evolved to meet this bizarre challenge? I imply from your remarks that they survive high fluxes of hard radiation by simply scaling up the known protective mechanisms against oxygen, free radicals, and molecular damage, but this sort of thing is usually evolved in response to some environmental challenge. I have some trouble imagining what natural challenge provoked this degree of adaptation. 7) What was the goal of your SOD extraction? 8) Was I correct about their degree of radiation resistance, and what is normal for most bacteria? 9) How well do they resist UV sterilization? Re 6) above, the oxygenless atmosphere of the Archean eon is presumed to have allowed vacuum UV to get all the way to the surface, and some distance into water. A critter that could survive on or near the surface would have an enormous advantage until the ozone shield was raised in the late pre-Cambrian era. But in that case, why wouldn't we all be a bit more radiation-tolerant? None of the above is particularly relevant to cryonics, of course, but cryonics is merely a means to an end. I know a number of people who would like to check out the galactic core and other locations some day. Current opinion is that it may be a bit energetic there. Plan ahead. Hugh at Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1055