As expected, wine grapes found to have high deleterious genetic burden
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China, have applied machine learning to genetic sequence data from wild and domestic European grapes.
Molecular & Computational biology news
Scientists engineer one protein to fight cancer and regenerate neurons
Our lungs, bones, blood vessels and other major organs are made up of cells, and one way our bodies keep us healthy is by using protein messengers known as ligands that bind to receptors on the surfaces of cells to regulate ...
Biotechnology
Jun 8, 2020
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Rare quadruple-helix DNA found in living human cells with glowing probes
New probes allow scientists to see four-stranded DNA interacting with molecules inside living human cells, unraveling its role in cellular processes.
Biotechnology
Jan 8, 2021
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Lingering effects of Neanderthal DNA found in modern humans
Recent scientific discoveries have shown that Neanderthal genes comprise some 1 to 4% of the genome of present-day humans whose ancestors migrated out of Africa, but the question remained open on how much those genes are ...
Evolution
Jun 7, 2023
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1395
Jurassic Park: Why we're still struggling to realize it 30 years on
"Jurassic Park" is arguably the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster. Aside from the appeal of human-chomping dinosaurs, tense action sequences and ground-breaking cinematography, its release in 1993 was a movies-meet-science milestone.
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 18, 2023
5
1389
Not a living fossil: How the Coelacanth recently evolved dozens of new genes
The capture of the first living Coelacanth, a mighty ocean predator, off the coast of South Africa caused quite a stir in 1938, 65 million years after its supposed extinction. It became known as a "living fossil" owing to ...
Evolution
Feb 9, 2021
5
6792
When fossils come to life: SARS-CoV-2 spike, syncytin-1, and other curious fusion proteins
The homotrimeric spike glycoprotein (S) from SARS-CoV-2, particularly its S2 subunit, is a fusion protein extraordinaire. It can fuse viral particles to cells and also fuse cells to cells to create multifarious syncytia among ...
Losing their tails provided our ape ancestors with an evolutionary advantage, but we're still paying the price
Put the word "evolution" into Google images and the results are largely variations on one theme: Ralph Zallinger's illustration, March of Progress. Running left to right, we see a chimp-like knuckle walker gradually becoming ...
Evolution
Mar 3, 2024
5
1385
Researchers develop an engineered 'mini' CRISPR genome editing system
The common analogy for CRISPR gene editing is that it works like molecular scissors, cutting out select sections of DNA. Stanley Qi, assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, likes that analogy, but he ...
Biotechnology
Sep 3, 2021
2
1511
Antioxidant glutathione discovered to play a key role in proper protein folding
In the past several years, Rockefeller University's Kivanç Birsoy and his team in the Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics have revealed remarkable details about the antioxidant glutathione, which plays many essential ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 17, 2026
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