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What would happen to a person if their DNA stopped working completely?

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: genetics.

 

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MikeAdams#367 says:

They would die.

 

Since all protein production depends on using the information stored in DNA then failure to access the information would stop all protein production. All proteins degrade over time, and unless replaced, you will quickly run out of some key protein (probably an enzyme) that is critical to your survival. My guess is that death would occur in minutes rather than hours.

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posted on 2010-07-06 14:44:28 | Report abuse

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Jon-Richfield says:

Yep. Only my money says seconds, not minutes. I shouldn't be surprised to find persuasive arguments to support the idea that you would be dead before you hit the ground. There are quite a lot of vital processes that need DNA activity continuously, never mind waiting for proteins to degrade etc.

For example, a lot of our running controls need the production of microRNA chains.

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posted on 2010-07-06 17:20:48 | Report abuse


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