Plant enzyme's origins traced to non-enzyme ancestors

(Phys.org) -- As plants began to transition from aquatic habitats to dry land some 500 million years ago, their needs changed. Those primitive ancestors of modern plants were ill-equipped to survive in a dry, sunlight-blasted ...

New level of genetic diversity in human RNA sequences uncovered

A detailed comparison of DNA and RNA in human cells has uncovered a surprising number of cases where the corresponding sequences are not, as has long been assumed, identical. The RNA-DNA differences generate proteins that ...

Dine or dash? Genes help decide when to look for new food

For worms, choosing when to search for a new dinner spot depends on many factors, both internal and external: how hungry they are, for example, how much oxygen is in the air, and how many other worms are around. A new study ...

Missing DNA helps make us human

A new study demonstrates that specific traits that distinguish humans from their closest living relatives – chimpanzees, with whom we share 96 percent of our DNA – can be attributed to the loss of chunks of DNA ...

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