Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences are essential parts of many species' genomes. The highly repetitive nature of these DNA sequences makes them susceptible to shrinkage over time—and if they shrink too much, cells die. If rDNA ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 1, 2023
0
55
When a cell is getting ready to divide, it needs to duplicate its DNA, which is divided among its chromosomes, and arrange the chromosomes so that each new cell gets one complete set. If the chromosomes get sorted incorrectly, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 27, 2023
0
41
Toxoplasma gondii—otherwise known as Toxo—is a parasite that infects one fourth of the world's human population. While Toxo remains alive within most of its hosts, the active acute forms of the parasite are quickly suppressed ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 21, 2023
0
83
Sperm must swim swiftly to an egg in order to fertilize it, and so they have evolved hydrodynamic shapes. Most of the space in the head of sperm cells is taken up by the DNA they carry, so the cells coil up their DNA super ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 11, 2023
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8
What happens when an RNA molecule contains too many repeats of the same short sequence of bases, or RNA building blocks?
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 5, 2023
0
2
Developing approaches to protect human well-being in a changing climate will depend on a deeper understanding of how mammalian cells and organisms adapt to dramatic shifts in temperature and in the availability of food and ...
Evolution
Mar 3, 2023
0
3
Nearly every cell in our body contains pairs of each of our chromosomes, and these pairs are identical in all but one case: that of our sex chromosomes. Males typically have one X and one Y sex chromosome, while females typically ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 9, 2023
0
129
Graduate student Colin Kim had been making good progress on a scientific puzzle that had fascinated him since he joined Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng's lab, trying to understand how coumarin synthase (COSY), an ...
Biochemistry
Feb 7, 2023
0
77
Our DNA contains four types of molecules, adenine, cytosine, thymine, and guanine—called nucleotides or bases—running along the strands that make up our chromosomes. Since there are only four, it is not unusual to find ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 11, 2023
0
107
Germ cells, the reproductive cells that eventually become eggs and sperm, are set aside early in embryonic development, when the embryo is just a hollow ball of cells called the gastrula. This means that the cells transferring ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 1, 2022
0
3
