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 ...

The birth of a bacterial tRNA gene

Translation is the process by which genetic information is converted into proteins, the workhorses of the cell. Small molecules called transfer RNAs (tRNAs) play a crucial role in translation; they are the adapter molecules ...

RNA information transfer could be used in repairing DNA

Genomes are routinely subjected to DNA damage. But most cells have DNA repair systems that enforce genome stability and, ideally, prevent diseases like cancer. The trouble gets serious when these systems break down. When ...

Epigenetics and cell diversity in the embryo

A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin has explored the role of factors in embryonic development that do not alter the sequence of DNA, but only epigenetically modify its "packaging". ...

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