Genomes, as physical systems, comprise the complete set of nucleic acid molecules (typically DNA, or RNA in some viruses) that encode the hereditary information of an organism, including all chromosomes and extrachromosomal genetic elements. They are organized into linear or circular polymers of nucleotides, with specific higher-order structures such as chromatin in eukaryotes or nucleoid organization in prokaryotes. At the physical level, genomes exhibit defined sequence composition, length, and structural features (e.g., replication origins, regulatory regions, repetitive elements) that collectively determine their stability, replication dynamics, mutational patterns, and interactions with cellular molecular machinery.
You are mostly but not entirely human. If we crunch the numbers, 8% of your genome actually comes from viruses that got stranded there. This viral detritus is a souvenir from our evolutionary past, a reminder that viruses ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 27, 2025
0
63
By tracing the genomes of nine brown algal species, researchers have shed light on the ancient origins, remarkable stability, and unexpected transformations of U/V sex chromosomes. This reveals how sex determination can evolve, ...
Evolution
Aug 26, 2025
0
31
For decades, large stretches of human DNA were dismissed as "junk" and considered to serve no real purpose. In a new study published in Cell Genomics, researchers at Lund University in Sweden show that the repetitive part ...
Evolution
Aug 25, 2025
0
92
In the past decade, there has been significant interest in studying the expression of our genetic code down to the level of single cells, to identify the functions and activities of any cell through the course of health or ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 21, 2025
0
116
Similar to the way the caps on the ends of a shoelace prevent it from fraying, telomeres—regions of repetitive DNA sequences and a protein structure—protect the tips of chromosomes from damage.
Biotechnology
Aug 14, 2025
0
135
Ancient events in plant evolution have left behind large, duplicated regions in their genomes. Salk Institute scientists found that deleting these large blocks of DNA can still lead to normal plants. The findings demonstrate ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 13, 2025
0
87
To study growth-defense trade-offs in the context of metabolism in crops, scientists from the Universities of Potsdam and Erlangen, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, and the National Institute of Biology, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 11, 2025
0
17
A team of Chinese researchers has developed two new genome editing technologies, known collectively as Programmable Chromosome Engineering (PCE) systems.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 4, 2025
0
100
The human genome consists of 3 billion base pairs, and when a cell divides, it takes about seven hours to complete making a copy of its DNA. That's almost 120,000 base pairs per second. At that breakneck speed, one might ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 4, 2025
0
357
The DNA of nearly all life on Earth contains many redundancies, and scientists have long wondered whether these redundancies served a purpose or if they were just leftovers from evolutionary processes. Both DNA and RNA contain ...
