The right way to repair DNA

Is it better to do a task quickly and make mistakes, or to do it slowly but perfectly? When it comes to deciding how to fix breaks in DNA, cells face the same choice between two major repair pathways. The decision matters, ...

A hair-trigger for cells fighting infection

To fight infections cells in the immune system play a dangerous game with their own genes. Damaging genes allows B cells to make antibodies that are specifically equipped to target to specific causes of illness, but damaging ...

Fast-forward aging due to DNA damage

The heredity substance DNA is the blueprint of our life. Like an instruction manual it contains all the information needed for cells and the body to function properly. In the process, the DNA is always exposed to threats ...

The fork in the road to DNA repair

Japanese researchers from Osaka University have uncovered a way in which our cells regulate the repair of broken DNA. Their results, published in the journal Cell Reports show a common molecule regulates multiple repair mechanisms ...

Low temperature increases risk of DNA damage from UV radiation

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure can cause DNA damage and may be one of the contributing factors in the global amphibian extinction crisis. New research from Prof Craig Franklin and a team of researchers from The University ...

A molecular plaster to repair DNA

All cells are confronted with DNA damage, for example by exposure of the skin to UV rays, chemical byproducts of nerve cells consuming sugar, or immune cells destroying bacteria. If these DNA lesions are not - or badly - ...

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