Scientists uncover mystery of DNA methylation

All species mark their DNA with methyl groups. This is done to regulate gene expression, distinguish indigenous DNA from foreign DNA, or to mark old DNA strands during replication. Methylation is carried out by certain enzymes ...

Virus genes help determine if pea aphids get their wings

Many of an organism's traits are influenced by cues from the organism's environment. These features are known as phenotypically plastic traits and are important in allowing an organism to cope with unpredictable environments.

These molecules could trap viruses inside a cell

Viruses are often used as vehicles for delivery in gene therapy because they're engineered not to damage the cell once they get there, but neglecting to consider how the virus will exit the cell could have consequences.

How viruses outsmart their host cells

Viruses depend on host cells for replication, but how does a virus induce its host to transcribe its own genetic information alongside that of the virus, thus producing daughter viruses? For decades, researchers have been ...

Gene activity in defenders depends on invading slavemaking ants

Temnothorax americanus is a slavemaking ant found in northeastern America. These tiny social insects neither rear their offspring nor search for food themselves. Instead, they raid nests of another ant species, Temnothorax ...

Co-evolution between a 'parasite gene' and its host

A Danish research team has delineated a complex symbiosis between a 'parasitic' noncoding RNA gene and its protein-coding 'host' gene in human cells. The study reveals how co-evolution of the host gene and parasite gene has ...

page 5 from 12