Skin Self-repairs

kangaroo with light red fur looks at the camera in sunlight surrounded grasses

Biological Strategy

Kangaroos and relatives

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Image: Jeremy Zero / Unsplash / Free non-commercial use

Protect From Light

Access to sunlight is crucial to living systems because it’s the primary energy source for life. However, too much sunlight in the form of ultraviolet radiation (UV) can cause damage to living tissues. Therefore, living systems have strategies to filter out some or all UV radiation. For example, some plants that live in areas exposed to long periods of direct sunlight have reflective surfaces (such as white hairs or powder) that reflect UV light.

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Mammals

Class Mammalia (“breast”): Bats, cats, whales, horses, humans

Mammals make up less than 1% of all animals on earth, but they include some of the most well-known species. We know first-hand some of the characteristics that make mammals unique, like having hair, being able to sweat, and producing milk through mammary glands. Another critical shared feature is a set of highly-specialized teeth. Unlike sharks or alligators, for example, whose teeth are generally all the same size and shape, mammals have differently shaped teeth in different areas of the jaws to target specific foods or foraging strategies.

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Skin of kangaroos self-repairs after sun damage using a DNA repair enzyme.

“University of Melbourne researchers have found that kangaroos could hold the key to the prevention of skin cancer.

“The researchers, who teamed up with Austrian scientists from the University of Innsbruck, believe that finding out how kangaroos repair their sun-damaged DNA could be the key to preventing skin cancer.

“Dr Linda Feketeova and Dr Uta Wille from the University of Melbourne are investigating a DNA repair enzyme found in kangaroos and many other organisms but not humans…’Other research teams have proposed a `dream cream’ containing the DNA repair enzyme which you could slap on your skin after a day in the sun.

“‘We are now examining whether this would be feasible by looking at the chemistry behind the (kangaroo) DNA system.’

“Dr Wille, who has been researching the kangaroo link for a number of years, said the DNA’s repair process had resulted in a number of chemical by-products that had never been seen before.

“‘Our plan is to study these products to understand if the DNA repair enzyme could be incorporated into a safe and effective method for skin cancer prevention,’ she said.” (University of Melbourne 2009)

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