The complexity of living organisms is encoded within their genes, but where do these genes come from? Researchers at the University of Helsinki resolved outstanding questions around the origin of small regulatory genes, and ...
Evolution
19 minutes ago
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Researchers at universities in New York and Ningbo, China, say they have created tiny robots built from DNA that can reproduce themselves.
As they swim around, fish leave DNA fragments behind them, for example via their skin or their excrements. Once collected and analyzed, these indicators allow scientists to determine all the species present in the environment. ...
Ecology
Dec 5, 2023
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The electric eel is the biggest power-making creature on Earth. It can release up to 860 volts, which is enough to run a machine. In a recent study, a research group from Nagoya University in Japan found electric eels can ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 5, 2023
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269
Bacteriophages are natural "predators" and enemies of bacteria. They are able to recognize specific types of bacteria and are considered safe for humans. Due to the increasing resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to antibiotics, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 5, 2023
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A team of chemists, microbiologists and physicists at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. has developed a way to use solid-state nanopores and multiplexed DNA barcoding to identify misfolded proteins such as those involved ...
Who needs science fiction when you have the mitochondria? Billions of years ago, early plant and animal cells were infected by protobacteria which sought refuge from the outside world. Over time, these bacteria formed a symbiosis ...
A team of engineers at Duke University have developed a method to broaden the reach of CRISPR technologies. While the original CRISPR system could only target 12.5% of the human genome, the new method expands access to nearly ...
Biotechnology
Dec 5, 2023
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358
DNA is the most important carrier of genetic information. Each cell contains approximately two meters of DNA. To ensure that all this genetic material fits into the small cell nucleus, it must be tightly packed. The DNA is, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 4, 2023
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Scientists have amassed genome data for dozens of "magic mushroom" isolates and cultivars, with the goal to learn more about how their domestication and cultivation has changed them. The findings, published December 4 in ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 4, 2023
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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.
Chemically, DNA consists of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds. These two strands run in opposite directions to each other and are therefore anti-parallel. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called bases. It is the sequence of these four bases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA, in a process called transcription.
Within cells, DNA is organized into X-shaped structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are duplicated before cells divide, in a process called DNA replication. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in the mitochondria (animals and plants) and chloroplasts (plants only). Prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) however, store their DNA in the cell's cytoplasm. Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
