A study performed at IRB Barcelona offers an explanation as to why the genetic code stopped growing 3,000 million years ago. This is attributed to the structure of transfer RNAs—the key molecules in the translation of genes ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 2, 2016
4
152
Protein is the fundamental substance of life. The genetic code directing protein synthesis is stored in DNA. When a cell is instructed, the code information transfers from DNA to mRNA. Then, information on mRNA is further ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 14, 2016
0
3
The genetic code stored in DNA determines everything from the color of our eyes to our susceptibility to disease. This has motivated scientists to sequence the human genome and develop ways to alter the genetic code, but ...
Biotechnology
Mar 17, 2016
0
875
A difference of one hundredth of a percent in fitness is sufficient to select between winners and losers in evolution. For the first time researchers have quantified the tiny selective forces that shape bacterial genomes. ...
Evolution
Mar 10, 2016
0
26
DNA does not always adopt the form of the double helix associated with the genetic code; it can also form intricate folds and act as an enzyme called a deoxyribozyme. A researcher from Spain and other scientists from the ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 2, 2016
0
7
Researchers have made an advance in the fight against a deadly virus that affects pigs.
Biotechnology
Feb 23, 2016
0
57
One of the big questions for which there is still no clear answer in biology is how, based on the four universal letters that make up DNA, it is possible to generate such different organisms as a fly or a human, or the different ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 28, 2016
0
53
A well-known songbird, the great tit, has revealed its genetic code, offering researchers new insight into how species adapt to a changing planet. Their initial findings suggest that epigenetics—what's on rather than what's ...
Biotechnology
Jan 25, 2016
0
14
In the US you can buy and eat genetically modified apples that don't go brown, potatoes that are less likely to cause cancer, and – as of recently – salmon that grow faster. But in Europe, 19 out of 28 member states have ...
Biotechnology
Dec 8, 2015
0
15
A hot new tool to edit the human genetic code has a big wow factor: the promise of long-sought cures for intractable diseases. But depending on how it's used, that same tool could alter human heredity.
Biotechnology
Dec 2, 2015
0
7
