Part 3:Keep In Shape 

      The final part of Deinococcus Radioduran's amazing healing power is

its ability to keep damaged DNA from being lost. Many organisms can heal

small amounts of damage to DNA, even humans. The problem is that when larger

amounts of DNA are damaged, some of the damaged DNA floats away from the

rest of the DNA and is unusable for repair or lost. Deinococcus Radiodurans

has found a solution to this problem. It was once believed that Deinococcus

Radiodurans had an invisible framework, or scaffolding, that kept the DNA

suspended and kept DNA from straying away from the rest of the DNA. It was

found in 2003 that the DNA is packed into a very tight ring, usuaslly

towards the center of the cell. It creates a sort of wall that keeps DNA

form floating away in the cytoplasm. The ring is divided into four sections.

In each section, a certain part of the DNA is repaired by specialized

proteins. The DNA is then moved on to another section where another part

of the DNA is repaired. This process is repeated until all the DNA has

been repaired. Deinococcus Radiodurans has become so efficient at this

process that it can survive over 200 times the radiation that a normal

person can.