Antarctica is a continent of extremes. The coldest. The driest. The windiest. It pushes life to the very limits. Living things in Antarctica have evolved some weird and interesting adaptations, which researchers are still discovering.
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UV light, toxins, desiccation, byproducts of metabolism - these are all things that can cause damage to an organism's DNA. Bacteria living in Antarctica's Dry Valleys are under constant bombardment and Dr. Adele Williamson, senior lecturer at the University of Waikato, is interested in learning about how they protect their DNA.
All living things have DNA repair systems to fix damage, but Williamson figured that these Dry Valley bacteria might have a few extra tricks up their sleeves to help.
By sequencing the bacterial genomes found in samples taken from the Dry Valleys, she can search for DNA repair protein genes, coax bacteria in the lab to make these proteins, and then test how they work in the lab. In this way, Williamson, and her PhD student Liz Rzoska-Smith, are hoping to unravel the mystery of how they can survive in such harsh conditions, and perhaps discover some useful protein tools that scientists can employ in the lab.
