Sunscreen could be made from DNA?

Sunscreen has always been used as a way to protect a persons skin from harsh sun rays. It can help one avoid getting sunburn and protect the skin cells from damage. Scientists are looking into a new way of creating sunscreen that includes the use of DNA. With this new sunscreen you would not have to reapply as often and it protects the skin from the suns harmful ray. One of the biochemist teams would work with thin layers or films of DNA to see how it reacts with the sun. The other ordered DNA from a company that provides various species of DNA. They obtained DNA from the sperm cells of a salmon and mixed it with water and ethanol. The mix was spread on a surface to dry and then arranged into a thin film. They tested 2 broad spectra of the UV rays from the sun, which includes UVA and UVB. The film made from the salmon DNA absorbed most of both the UV rays. The absorption keeps the light from reaching any skin cells below.

Source 1: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/one-day-your-sunscreen-may-be-made-dna

Source 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891584917300382#:~:text=The%20ultraviolet%20(UVB%20and%20UVA,sunlight%20reach%20the%20Earth%27s%20surface.&text=Sunlight%20induces%20DNA%20damage%2C%20including%20pyrimidine%20dimers%20and%20oxidized%20bases.&text=DNA%20repair%20pathways%20protect%20cells%20against%20sunlight%2Dinduced%20oxidized%20DNA%20damage.

How Modified Plant is Making Better use of Sunlight

This is a ground breaking study that would benefit farmers by providing bigger yields. This can benefit civilization as a whole since the demand for more food gets higher every day due to an increasing population. It takes advantage of the fact that shadows are produced on plants either by nearby trees or the leaves themselves. When this happens, this creates a spot of darkness. Most people don't notice this spot of darkness, but it is a problem for plants. The problem is that it takes a while for plants to go from the dark stage back to photosynthesis. So scientists found a way to speed up the process. They grabbed DNA from a mustard plant (mustard Arabidopsis thaliana) and inserted it into the tobacco plant. The inserted DNA produced proteins that help speed up the transition from the dark stage to photosynthesis. It reduces the limits on plant photosynthesis and bypasses millions of years of evolution.

Tobacco was the first plant that this was successfully done to but scientists are looking to do this to multiple plants. The one thing that is a concern is that, yes the tobacco plant weighed 14-20% more than the unmodified tobacco plants but does that mean that if the transfer of protein modification was done to another plant, would it just increase in weigh because of bigger stems, roots and leaves or will the crop itself yield bigger product? That question right now cannot be answered but according to the theory of the tobacco plant experiment it should be possible.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/11/how-turning-plants-sunshield-can-grow-bigger-crops

Sun Damages DNA in Skin Cells Long After Exposure

Each year, research on the sun's affect on our skin becomes more and more abundant. If you aren't wearing sunscreen by now or are still hitting the tanning beds, this new study may finally change your mind. Scientists have discovered that the sun's ultraviolet light can cause damage to DNA long after the physical effects of sun burn have stopped, and "certain damaging reactions that can lead to melanoma-causing mutations may take hours to evolve and mostly occur after you get out of the sun."

This study was led by Douglas E. Brash of Yale University, and included scientists from around the globe. They came to the conclusion that 'radical species' (superoxide and nitric oxide) that are generated from ultraviolet light, damage DNA even after irritation from being out in the sun ceases.

These radicals react and create peroxynitrite, which oxidizes and fragments melanin polymers (a pigment that protects mammals from harmful sun rays). They discovered this by using compounds found in melanin, to create lesions (or "dimers") in DNA, which in turn leads to mutations causing melanoma, a.k.a skin cancer.

The team of scientists found that at least half of the dimers you can be exposed to come in the dark, rather than daytime. While direct DNA damage happens almost instantly, the lesions can take hours to develop. This research gives a lot of information regarding melanoma. 

I thought this article was very interesting because too many people still think that even if you're in the shade you can't be affected by the sun's rays, or that it's unnecessary to wear sun screen. Also, tanning beds are a direct feed of UVA radiation; people go to great lengths to get a tan and will practically cook themselves alive in these beds, not to mention it's highly unsanitary. I, too, was once a naive beach-goer who didn't put on sunscreen due to the fact I do not burn. I have since learned that even if you do not get sun burn, it is still extremely important to protect yourself from the sun's harmful rays, or you run the risk of getting skin cancer. 

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Vitamin D influences genes

              Research has found that vitamin D influences about 200 genes. Vitamin D is from the exposure of the sun. One billion of people in the world do not have enough amount of vitamin D from the sun. It is also found that vitamin D increases a person’s susceptibility to autoimmune conditions such as diabetes type 1. Vitamin D interacts with our DNA because vitamin D receptor is a protein that is only activated by vitamin D. It attached to DNA and influences which proteins are created from our genetic code. Along the length of the genome, 2,776 binding sites found for vitamin D receptor.  At least 229 genes are effects by vitamin D. Research has also found that light skin and hair color evolved in populations moving to areas with less sun. Lacking vitamin D negatively affects bone development in pregnant mothers which is fatal to the mother and the baby. Vitamin D is not naturally found in foods, unlike other vitamins that can be found in food. One must sit in the sun for at least 15 minutes per day to receive accurate vitamin D. There are two type of vitamin D: Vitamin D₂  and D₃ which are both found sunlight. 

                Vitamin D deficiency can kill you quicker. The type of cancers that vitamin D deficiency causes are breast, prostate and column. Copenhagen City heart study has found that “genes with low vitamin D had a mortality rate that is 30% higher and 40% higher cancer-related death”. Low vitamin D also has a higher chance of brain damage after cardiac arrest.

Link 1:http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/news/20141119/low-levels-of-vitamin-d-may-raise-early-death-risk-study

Related link: http://www.medicaldaily.com/vitamin-d-deficiency-can-kill-you-quicker-why-sunshine-vitamin-essential-your-health-311254

Plants can't get Sunburn

Scientist Timothy Zwier and his colleagues at Purdue University have discovered a group of molecules that are in plants that shield them from sun damage.  Even though, plants use sunlight to make their food, they also need to protect themselves from its harmful rays. These molecules work like a sunscreen for the plants; just like us humans use sunscreen to protect our skin from the suns harmful rays.

The molecules that the plants are able to produce are sent to the outer layer of their leaves for protection. This molecule are called, sinapate esters and they block ultraviolet-B radiation from getting deep into their leaves where the sunlight could disrupt the plant’s normal development. If UV radiation that plants are exposed to daily were able to enter the leaves of the plant, it would seriously damage the plants DNA and prevent the plant from growing.

After finding these sinapate ester molecules, the researchers then investigated what UVB radiation did to these molecules in the gas phase. They used a laser in the laboratory and found that sinapate ester molecules were able to soak up radiation at every wavelength across the UVB spectrum. Therefore, they found that these molecules work well as a sunscreen for the plants because they are able to absorb all of the harsh radiation from the sun that plants are exposed to daily.

I chose this article because I love being in the sun but I am always afraid of getting sunburn. I then found it interesting that plants are unable to get sunburn due to a molecule that they are able to produce. This molecule works for plants like sunscreen works for us humans. I think it is amazing that they are able to protect themselves from something that they are exposed to almost each and everyday.

This article: Why plants don't get sunburn

Related Article: Why plants don't get sunburn