7/25/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists work to fix the fact that humans lack a key enzyme most animals have that reverses sun damage. Researchers have long known that humans lack a key enzyme -- one possessed by most of the animal kingdom and even plants -- that reverses severe sun damage. For the first time, researchers have witnessed how this enzyme works at the atomic level to repair sun-damaged DNA. The discovery holds promise for future sunburn remedies and skin cancer prevention. The enzyme, called photolyase, injects a single electron and proton into an injured strand of DNA. The two subatomic particles healed the damage in a few billionths of a second. 'People have been working on this for years, but now that we've seen it, I don't think anyone could have guessed exactly what was happening,' said the leader of the research project, Ohio State University physicist and chemist Dongping Zhong.