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by domsl 2941 days ago
Wow that's very interesting. What do they do with 1) and 2)? Just accept it or kill it another way?

Why is 3) so resistant against radiation? Does it repair DNA damage faster than it occurs?

Do you mind me asking if you're working in industry or are in academia/research? :)

1 comments

Kill it some other way, and frequently test things that should be 'sterile'.

I don't actually study (3) particularly, nor am I a biologist. As far as I understand, the "how" question is pretty well studied, and is because it's pretty aggressive with DNA repair, and has lots of various tricks to facilitate that and minimize damage from occurring in the first place. The question of "why" is (in my mind) more interesting, and less understood - it may be due to evolving to deal with prolonged dehydration, which is a much more useful ability for life on earth. IDK.

R&D at a startup.

Thanks for the reply – I actually thought there was some stuff no bacteria could live in and that probably exists, but then you also get problems with the things you are trying to desinfect.