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Study discovers new species of green microalga in São Paulo

A group led by researchers affiliated with the Phycology Laboratory at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have discovered a new species of green microalga in a reservoir located in the northwest of the state.

24 Nov 2021

Research establishes a new understanding of how DNA methylation begins in plants

Crop improvement often involves the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another to produce a valuable trait. Some major examples of crops with these so-called "transgenes" include disease-resistant cotton and beta-carotene-enhanced golden rice.

10 Nov 2021

Researchers propose novel model for mitochondrial nucleoid self-assembly

Mitochondria, the powerhouse of mammalian cells, also perform vital roles in cell signaling, cell metabolism, and apoptosis.

8 Nov 2021

Formation of transcription factories in living cells resembles the condensation of liquids

It is essential for cells to control precisely which of the many genes of their genetic material they use. This is done in so-called transcription factories, molecular clusters in the nucleus.

5 Nov 2021

Study pinpoints the mutational hotspots in DNA

Recent research at the University of Bath reveals that tangles in unwound DNA can develop mutational hotspots in the genomes of bacteria.

From University of Bath 21 Oct 2021

Active genes do not form clusters and share resources during early development in fruit flies

Active genes do not form clusters and share resources during early development in the fruit fly, according to a new study by New York University and Princeton researchers published in the journal Current Biology.

6 Oct 2021

Study unravels factors involved in risiRNA generation

A team of scientists disclosed the nucleolar RNA interference based on Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as a model organism.

1 Oct 2021

Scientists analyze the molecular machinery of poxviruses at an atomic level

Poxviruses have found a unique way of translating their genes into proteins in the infected organism. A team of researchers from Würzburg shows for the first time how the molecular machinery involved works at an atomic level.

24 Sep 2021

Study unravels the DNA repair mechanism by enzymes

A new study by researchers from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in the Republic of Korea has revealed the mechanism of DNA repair by enzymes exonuclease III and polymerase I by utilizing single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET)-enabled dynamic observation.

14 Sep 2021

Accurate diagnosis of bacterial superinfection pneumonia could help avoid antibiotic overuse

Only 21 percent of patients with severe pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) have a documented bacterial superinfection at the time of intubation, resulting in potential overuse of antibiotics, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

23 Aug 2021

Toward an antiviral drug that works against all coronaviruses

Safe and effective vaccines offer hope for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the possible emergence of vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as novel coronaviruses, make finding treatments that work against all coronaviruses as important as ever.

22 Jul 2021

Study reveals how cells “read” synthetic ingredients added to a genetic code

If the genome is considered the recipe for life, then base pairs represent the individual ingredients. DNA is made up of these chemical structures, and every living thing on the planet has just four of them.

21 Jun 2021

Human cells can convert RNA sequences into DNA

Cells include machinery that replicates DNA into a new set, and this, in turn, develops into a newly formed cell.

15 Jun 2021

Scientists unravel the proteins that trigger some cancerous tumors

Even on a good day, DNA is constantly getting damaged. Nicks, scratches, breaks: the delicate strands that carry life's genetic code take a beating as they jumble about in the course of their work. If left untreated, errors accumulate, with fatal consequences -- such as cancerous tumors -- for the cell and the organism.

11 Jun 2021

New plasmofluidic chip could accelerate diagnosis during current and future pandemics

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been the gold standard for diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

27 May 2021

New method helps tests large groups for SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers at the Vienna BioCenter designed a testing protocol for SARS-CoV-2 that can process tens of thousands of samples in less than 48 hours. The method, called SARSeq, is published in the journal Nature Communications and could be adapted to many more pathogens.

25 May 2021

Telomere length decreases most rapidly from birth to age 3, shows study

Telomeres are protective caps on DNA that shorten as we grow older. Now, one of the first studies to examine telomere length (TL) in childhood finds that the initial setting of TL during prenatal development and in the first years of life may determine one's TL throughout childhood and potentially even into adulthood or older age.

25 May 2021

Environmental DNA helps track down species on the move

Many individuals would like to prevent sloughed-off skin and bodily fluids. However, for marine biologists like Cheryl Lewis Ames, Associate Professor of Applied Marine Biology in the Graduate School of Agricultural Science at Tohoku University (Japan), such life remnants have become a magical guide to detecting the unseen.

24 May 2021

Refreshers develop new DNA sequencing method

An international research team headed by Michal Hocek of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) and Charles University and Ciara K. O'Sullivan of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) in Spain have developed a novel method for labeling DNA, which in the future can be used for sequencing DNA by means of electrochemical detection.

18 May 2021

Supercoiling characteristic of DNA's structure controls gene expression, research shows

The two meters of -stretched- DNA contained in human cells are continuously twisting and untwisting to give access to genetic information: when a gene is expressed to generate a protein, the two strands of DNA are separated to give access to all the machinery necessary for this expression, resulting in an excessive accumulation of coiling that needs to be resolved later.

10 May 2021