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DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Essential Bacterial Signaling Autoproteolysis in C. thermocellum

Sensing and communicating with the extracellular environment are both aspects of transmembrane signaling.

24 Jul 2023

New Method for Building Modular Optical Sensors to Detect Bacteria and Viruses

An innovative method for building modular optical sensors that can detect viruses and bacteria has been created by an interdisciplinary research team from Bochum, Duisburg, and Zurich.

24 Jul 2023

Uncovering New Insights into Virus Self-Assembly

Griffith University researchers were instrumental in controlling the way viruses are assembled by using DNA “origami” templates.

18 Jul 2023

Berkeley Lab and Genentech Team Up to Develop Next-Generation Drug Delivery System

Many diseases can be successfully treated in the simple environment of a cell culture dish, but to successfully treat real people, the drug agent has to take a journey through the infinitely more complex environment within our bodies and arrive, intact, inside the affected cells.

18 Jul 2023

New Simulations Reveal How Nuclear Pore Complex Regulates Protein Trafficking

If the human cell is a nightclub, then the nucleus is a VIP lounge. Inside are the DNA, fiercely maintained by the nuclear pore complex, which is charged with the task of protecting every strand. To do this, the NPC acts as gatekeeper against unworthy proteins.

14 Jul 2023

Rensselaer Professor Receives $400,000 Grant to Study Deep Sea Enzymes

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Catherine Royer, Constellation Chair Professor of Bioinformatics and Biocomputation at the Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and professor of biological sciences, has received a grant of over $400,000 from the National Science Foundation to investigate enzymes from organisms living in deep sea environments.

14 Jul 2023

New Study Shows How Butterflies and Moths Can Help Understand Evolution

Butterflies and moths share "blocks" of DNA dating back more than 200 million years, new research shows.

14 Jul 2023

Revealing the Function of Retrotransposons

A retrotransposon, a parasitic DNA sequence that borrows the cell’s own machinery to accomplish its objectives, has been discovered.

13 Jul 2023

Gene Recognition of CRISPR-Cas Visualized With New Method

A novel technique has been devised by researchers from the University of Leipzig and the University of Vilnius in Lithuania to monitor the smallest twists and torques of molecules in milliseconds.

13 Jul 2023

The Future of Nanobiotechnology: Ethical Considerations

Prosthetics moved by thoughts. Targeted treatments for aggressive brain cancer. Soldiers with enhanced vision or bionic ears.

13 Jul 2023

Dad’s Genes “Remote Control” Mom’s Metabolism to Benefit Fetus

The unborn baby “remote controls” its mother’s metabolism, resulting in a nutritional tug-of-war between the two. The mother’s body requires the baby to survive, but she also needs enough glucose and fats in her system to be able to deliver the baby, breastfeed, and reproduce again.

12 Jul 2023

Genome of Xerces Blue Butterfly Reveals Extinction Story

The Xerces Blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces) was native to the coastal dunes of San Francisco, in the United States. As the city grew, much of the butterfly's habitat was destroyed and its population was relegated to Golden Gate National Park.

12 Jul 2023

First 'Living Digital Camera' Stores Images in DNA

In a world first, a 'biological camera' bypasses the constraints of current DNA storage methods, harnessing living cells and their inherent biological mechanisms to encode and store data.

12 Jul 2023

The Mechanism of Immune Memory Development

The memory of the immune system depends on distinctive epigenetic traits and a particular 3D arrangement of the DNA in the nucleus of memory cells, allowing for rapid activation of these cells, according to a team of researchers from the Erasmus University Medical Center, the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), and the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute.

12 Jul 2023

New Insights Into How Genes Are Activated

Genetic information contained within DNA has to be read by specific proteins that enable the process of gene activation to begin – but in many cases, these proteins can't access their targets because DNA strands are bundled up to control what genes are used in the wide range of different cell types.

12 Jul 2023