Life depends on the precise functioning of several proteins synthesized in cells by ribosomes. This diverse set of proteins, known as a proteome, is maintained by the robust translation elongation of amino acid sequences ...
An international research group has for the first time reconstructed ancestors dating back 2.6 billion years of the well-known CRISPR-Cas system, and studied their evolution over time. The results suggest that the revitalized ...
Using the word predation may seem surprising when we talk about the first organisms that set out to eat other organisms, for they were not deadly predators with sharp teeth and claws, but small single-celled life forms that ...
By polarizing different cell fate determinants at opposite cell poles, asymmetric cell division (ACD) that produces distinct daughter cells is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to generate cellular diversity in both eukaryotes ...
DNA methylation is a biological process through which methyl groups are added to the DNA (genetic material). It is used as an epigenetic, i.e., a non-genetic strategy by prokaryotes to perform an array of functions such as ...
One of the most long-standing, fundamental mysteries of biology surrounds the poorly understood origins of introns. Introns are segments of noncoding DNA that must be removed from the genetic code before it is translated ...
New research at the University of Chicago has found that the same machinery used by mammalian cells to drive cellular differentiation also plays a critical role in activating genes in yeast in response to environmental stress.
Encapsulating cells—both prokaryotic and eukaryotic—allows researchers to carry out experiments in hydrated environments over prolonged periods of time. However, cell growth under these conditions can exert a lot of pressure ...
As biology is progressing into a digital age, it is creating new opportunities for discovery.
Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are phylogenetically and morphologically diverse prokaryotes that share an ancestral capability of producing intracellular magnetite (Fe3O4) or/and greigite (Fe3S4) nanocrystals within organelles ...
