The DNA in the 23 pairs of chromosomes in each of the billions of cells of the human body is so tightly packed that it would measure six feet in length if stretched end to end. A genome of this size can squeeze into a cell's ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 9, 2009
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Parents and school nurses take note. Lice are a familiar nuisance around the world and vectors of serious diseases, such as epidemic typhus, in developing regions. New research indicates that lice may actually be quite ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 30, 2009
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Like it or not, your mouth is home to a thriving community of microbial life. More than 600 different species of bacteria reside in this "microbiome," yet everyone hosts a unique set of bugs, and this could have important ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 26, 2009
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Plant cells communicate via microscopic channels called plasmodesmata that are embedded in their cell walls. For the stem cells in the plants' growing tips, called "meristems," the plasmodesmata are lifelines, allowing nutrients ...
Feb 17, 2009
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In plant pollen grains, sperm cells, which carry the genetic material to be passed on to progeny, are cocooned within larger "companion" cells that are called pollen vegetative cells. These companions provide sperm with ...
Feb 5, 2009
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Two molecular biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have uncovered important new details about how a gene mutation causes a cellular editing error that results in a devastating disease called pontocerebellar hypoplasia ...
Jan 28, 2009
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Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) announced today the discovery of a new class of small RNAs. At the same time, they reported that their discovery suggests the presence of a strikingly novel biochemical ...
Jan 26, 2009
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During gene transcription – the process inside the nucleus of cells by which DNA, the genetic material, is copied into RNA molecules – a large, ever-changing multiprotein complex is enlisted to assist the DNA-copying ...
Dec 18, 2008
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Much like cancer cells, plant cells grown for a long time outside of their normal milieu, in culture dishes, have highly unstable genomes. Changes in gene activity, or how genes are "expressed," help cells cope with challenging ...
Dec 10, 2008
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Hereditary information flows from parents to offspring not just through DNA but also through the millions of proteins and other molecules that cling to it. These modifications of DNA, known as "epigenetic marks," act both ...
Nov 27, 2008
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