An unexpected attraction between nucleic acids and fat

All cells on Earth are enveloped in a fatty layer of lipids. Lipid membranes protect the content of the cells, including genetic information such as RNA and DNA. A new study from the researchers at the B CUBE—Center for ...

How to maintain gender equality through the sex chromosomes

Asymmetric sex chromosomes were independently shaped during evolution in many species, and different strategies evolved alongside to overcome the resulting imbalance in genetic information. Molecular biologist Marie-Line ...

Expanding the genetic code with quadruplet codons

One of modern biologists' most ambitious goals is to learn how to expand or otherwise modify the genetic code of life on Earth, in order to make new, artificial life forms. Part of the motivation for this "synthetic biology" ...

MicroRNAs may play a role in COVID-19

New research published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine indicates that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, produces microRNAs that can have impacts on infected cells. MicroRNAs are genetic molecules ...

Sixty-year-old question on DNA replication timing sequence answered

Over the last 60 years, scientists have been able to observe how and when genetic information was replicated, determining the existence a "replication timing program," a process that controls when and in what order segments ...

How nitrate regulates gene expression in legumes

Plants in the bean family (legumes) form nodules on their roots to take up nitrogen. Legumes will stop nodule production when nitrogen is plentiful (Figure 1), but precisely how nitrate presence controls nodule formation ...

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