X-ray and DNA

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skrish16
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Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

What are the most common way to measure DNA damage?
ncarter79
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Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by ncarter79 »

Hi there!

Every organism has DNA, so depending oh what you are looking to study, there may be some different options. From the sciencebuddies main search page, I typed in DNA Damage https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... dna+damage.

Here I found a lot of different project ideas and some other great information discussing DNA damage. I think it might be a great starting point for you and your project.

What kinds of organisms are you looking to study? What are the key questions you are looking to answer?

Please keep us posted as to how it goes and of course if you have other questions.

Good luck!
Nikki
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
Occupation: student
Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Thanks for your reply. The key question that I want to answer is that how much damage does a single X-ray radiations do to the DNA?
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
Occupation: student
Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

x-ray and dna

Post by skrish16 »

How much damage does a single x-ray do to DNA?
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Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by SciB »

Hi,

There is no such thing as a 'single' X ray. Radiation is continuous as long as the radiation source (X-ray machine, UV lamp, etc.) is ON. Maybe what you are thinking of is the 'dose' which is determined by the energy of the radiation and the time of exposure.

I think you need to read some more about radiation in general and its effects on biological materials such as DNA. It is a complex subject but the wikipedia entries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_repair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutagen

explain what happens pretty clearly. Are you planning a project about radiation effects on living organisms? Let us know more about why you are asking about DNA damage.

Sybee
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
Occupation: student
Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Thank you for the reply. What I want to do for my science fair experiment is that I wanted to see if I did X-Ray once a year how much damage will it do to the DNA and also what if I did it 6 times year or 12 times a year? I wanted to do as this my project because I heard that X-Ray is not good for our body and some people get X-Ray done and don't even know what happens to it? Once again thank you for the reply
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Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by SciB »

You are certainly welcome!

I wish I could give you a simple answer for how to do a project like this, but radiation damage to DNA depends on many different factors--dose and dose rate, time, distance from the source, type of tissue, the presence of certain drugs and how well the cells can repair the damage.

The subject of how much DNA damage occurs from multiple exposures to X-rays has been pretty thoroughly explored over the past fifty years. Cancer is a disease that is associated with DNA mutations that can be caused by radiation damage. The more X-ray exposure a person has over their lifetime, the greater the risk that some of the damage will produce a specific change in the DNA that can cause a cell to lose control and start to divide without stopping.

The X-ray equipment in use today is much more sensitive and efficient than that used fifty years ago. It is able to obtain images of the body with very low X-ray doses that have minimal risk.

The effects of X-rays on DNA can be studied using lots of different model organisms including bacteria, yeast, plants, nematode worms, insects, mice, and human cells. If you want to do an experiment with X-rays, read about this Scibuddies project on zapping yeast with X-rays: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p030.shtml

This project even has instructions for constructing an X-ray machine: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p083.shtml

One area of radiation research that is still being actively studied today is the use of various dietary supplements like acai berries and blueberries to protect against the damage from ionizing radiation like X-rays (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation). You could do a project to test a number of different supplements or extracts to see if they have protective effects. Do you have access to a lab to do experiments in? That would make a project like this much easier. Do you have a calibrated X-ray machine that you can use to administer a specific X-ray dose? If so, then you just need to choose an organism like yeast, feed it some acai or blueberry or vitamin E or A or C, give it an X-ray dose and see if it survives better than yeast that did not get a protective agent.

I hope this has given you enough information to focus your ideas better on this project. Let us know exactly what you want to do and we can help you with the details.

Good luck!

Sybee
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
Occupation: student
Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Thank you for the reply. While I was reading the response from you, I was just wondering if the acai and blue berries are the protective agent?

After reading the response, I was wondering if I can get a plant DNA and then feed a protective agent and one sample without protective agent and see if the agents helped survive the DNA or it damages it. I don't have a calibrated X-Ray machine but I will figure out what to do so I can X-Ray it.

And also I am just wondering if I can use Polymerase Chain Reaction to see the damages. Also I wanted to know how I could connect this to life?
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Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by SciB »

X-rays can produce harmful chemicals called free radicals that damage DNA, RNA and proteins. Antioxidants like vitamins C and E and foods like blueberries that contain antioxidants can destroy free radicals and prevent the damage. If you look in the supplement/vitamin section of a grocery store or pharmacy you can find many antioxidant preparations. You could choose several different ones to test to see which one is best able to protect cells from X-rays.

I would use yeast as the test organism and cell survival as the outcome. X-rays cause single- and double-strand breaks in DNA and you might be able to see this by isolating the DNA and running it on an agarose gel. As to whether you could use PCR--what sequence would you try to amplify? If you tried to amplify a DNA sequence with a break in it you would not get any amplification, but since you can't really predict which part of the DNA is going to be damaged, I don't see how you can use PCR.

X-rays can also modify DNA bases and these can be detected by immunofluorescence, but unless you have access to a university research lab and fluorescence plate reader, you won't be able to use this method.

You said that you don't have access to an X-ray machine. How do you plan to do this project without that?

X-ray-induced DNA damage that is not repaired can cause mutations and sometimes these allow cells to start growing and dividing without stopping--cancer, in other words. That is the connection between radiation and life. Most mutations cause no problems to a cell. In fact, the ability of a living being to evolve and adapt to environmental changes depends on mutations in the DNA.

Let us know if you have more questions.

Sybee
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
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Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Thank you for the reply again. I am certainly interested in doing my experiment based on the ideas you gave me. As previously I said I don't have an X -Ray machine but after talking to my teacher I found an X Ray machine but I have to calibrate it. And otherwise I am starting my research now on the new ideas. Thank you once again.
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Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by SciB »

I'm glad my advice was helpful. Keep posting as you have more questions and we will guide you.

Be careful with X-rays! They are harmful to human cells and lead shielding is necessary to block them. X-rays can penetrate walls and floors and you don't want to be irradiating someone whose office happens to be next door to the X-ray machine!

X-ray machines use voltages in the 15,000 to 25,000 V range which are deadly so be careful of that. If you have any questions about the operation of the particular model of X-ray machine, don't try to figure it out on your own--call the company that makes it and confirm the proper operating procedure.

Good luck!

Sybee
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
Occupation: student
Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Thank you. And sure I will not try to do anything that will be dangerous.
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
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Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Hello, I was just wondering how would I feed berries to yeast?
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Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by SciB »

Just put the berries into a food processor or blender with some water and whiz them up. Use a coffee filter to strain out the bits. If you happen to have a juicer that would be the easiest thing to use.

What I don't know is how much juice to add to a certain amount of yeast. You should use a range of amounts of juice to test its effect. If it does increase longevity then you should see a steady rise as you add more juice up to the point where you have saturated the yeast.

You'll have to do some experimenting to find the correct proportions of juice to yeast to see the maximum effect--if there is one. Remember that juice contains a lot of different components, some of which, like acidity, might actually inhibit the growth of the yeast.

Let us know what happens.

Sybee
skrish16
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:14 pm
Occupation: student
Project Question: The topic of my science project is to x-ray the DNA and measure the damage.
Project Due Date: 03/2016
Project Status: I am conducting my research

Re: X-ray and DNA

Post by skrish16 »

Thank you. I am also wondering in order for me to see if the radiation has damaged the DNA, I have to do gel electrophoresis for it right. Thank you once again.
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