When genes were first discovered, the canonical view was that each gene encodes a unique protein. However, biologists later found that segments of genes can be combined in different ways, giving rise to many ...

Biology - Evolution

Dec 21, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a new approach to alter the function of RNA in living cells by designing molecules that recognize and disable RNA targets. As a proof ...

Chemistry - Biochemistry

Dec 20, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

For humans to grow and to replace and heal damaged tissues, the body's cells must continually reproduce, a process known as "cell division," by which one cell becomes two, two become four, and so on. A key ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Dec 20, 2012 5 / 5 (3) 0 |

(Phys.org)—From a single-cell egg to a fully functional body: as embryos develop and grow, they must form organs that are in proportion to the overall size of the embryo. The exact mechanism underlying ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Dec 20, 2012 not rated yet 3 |

The gonad is well known to be important for reproduction but also affects animal life span. Removal of germ cells – the sperm and egg producing cells – increases longevity of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Howeve ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Dec 17, 2012 4.5 / 5 (2) 0

(Phys.org)—Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered a protein that does its best work with one foot in the grave.

Chemistry - Biochemistry

Dec 12, 2012 4 / 5 (1) 0 |

Vertebrates' transition to living on land, instead of only in water, represented a major event in the history of life. Now, researchers reporting in the December issue of the journal Developmental Cell provid ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Dec 10, 2012 4.4 / 5 (9) 43 |

(Phys.org)—Scientists have discovered 100 million-year-old regions in the DNA of several plant species which could hold secrets about how specific genes are turned 'on' or 'off'.

Biology - Biotechnology

Dec 05, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

(Phys.org)—Scientists from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research and the Biozentrum of the University of Basel have published an important proof-of-principle study showing that a computational ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Dec 04, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 1 |

The molecular mechanisms whereby a spectrum of dahlias, from white to yellow to red to purple, get their colour are already well known, but the black dahlia has hitherto remained a mystery. Now, a study ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Nov 22, 2012 not rated yet 0 |

Chromosomes - long, linear DNA molecules – are capped at their ends with special DNA structures called telomeres and an assortment of proteins, which together act as a protective sheath. Telomeres are maintained through ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Nov 21, 2012 5 / 5 (4) 1 |

(Phys.org)—The nucleic acid RNA is an essential part of the critical process by which the cells in our bodies manufacture proteins. But noncoding RNAs also exist whose sequences, while not converted into ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Nov 21, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

With a mate and a nest to protect, the male threespined stickleback is a fierce fish, chasing and biting other males until they go away.

Biology - Biotechnology

Nov 15, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

For the past several years, Min Guo, an assistant professor at The Scripps Research Institute, has focused on the intricate actions of an ancient family of catalytic enzymes that play a key role in translation, the process ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Nov 15, 2012 5 / 5 (3) 4

A new power-free microfluidic chip developed by researchers at the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute (ASI) enables detection of microRNA from extremely small sample volume in only 20 minutes. By drastically ...

Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry

Nov 07, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 1 |