Topoisomerase: Knotenlöserin

Dr. Jennifer Mann

Close your eyes for a moment. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Begin to relax. Remember your Colorado vacation last summer. You are fishing a secluded, high-mountain lake. Tall Ponderosa pines surround you. The sky is a delightful blue with a few white, puffy clouds. The air is crisp and cool. You lure a 22 lb rainbow trout to bite your hook. The dance begins! Oh no! There is a knot in your line. The trout leaps out of the water, tries to spit out the hook, dives back into the water, pulls HARD on your line, and SNAP! Your line breaks. Now imagine you are sitting in math class in the big brown box of RLM. Chalk dust is flying at the front of the room. You are burning lead taking notes. A different dance has begun. Oh no! There is a knot in your DNA. How did this happen and what happens next?