Page 72 - Consciousness in the Cell

CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE CELL

ENZYMES THAT IDENTIFY MISTAKES

Due to external factors, mistakes occasionally arise in the DNA,
the body's information bank. But these mistakes are fixed immedi-
ately by a control mechanism or repair process, effected by
enzymes that are synthesized according to information found in
the DNA itself.
The repair process is made up of a number of steps:
1. An enzyme called DNA nuclease identifies the damaged por-
tion of the DNA strand.
2. DNA nuclease removes the identified faulty portion, creating
a gap in the strand.
3. Another enzyme called DNA polymerase identifies the cor-
rect information from the undamaged strand of DNA, then repairs
the damaged strand according to this undamaged model.
4. The repair process does not end here, however. A gap has
been left in the sugar phosphate "backbone" in the area where the
repair has taken place, but an enzyme called DNA ligase fills in
this gap.
As you can understand from the functions they carry out, the
enzymes that repair the DNA possess many multiple functions. In
order to repair DNA, they must be very familiar with it. Moreover
they must know where to get the correct information, and how to
fill the gap that results.
The most amazing part is that the synthesis of DNA and the
enzymes controlling its synthesis are all produced according to
information stored within that same DNA, and are under the con-
trol of proteins made by that DNA. It is impossible for this mag-
nificent system, with processes occurring within processes, to have
come about in stages, by coincidence. In order for the enzymes to
exist, DNA must exist to begin with; and in order for DNA to exist,
the enzymes need to exist! But in order for them both to exist, the

70