Our genes are encoded in the DNA sequence of the genome, which is highly similar across the diverse cell types of our body. Yet, each cell can only access those genes that are in an epigenetically permissive state. The epigenome ...
Evolution
Jan 18, 2023
2
84
The chemical steps in an important cellular modification process that adds a chemical tag to some RNAs have been revealed in a new study. Interfering with this process in humans can lead to neuronal diseases, diabetes, and ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 15, 2021
0
341
Images of a protein involved in creating a potent antibiotic reveal the unusual first steps of the antibiotic's synthesis. The improved understanding of the chemistry behind this process, detailed in a new study led by Penn ...
Materials Science
Jan 18, 2021
0
225
Cells will ramp up gene expression in response to physical forces alone, a new study finds. Gene activation, the first step of protein production, starts less than one millisecond after a cell is stretched—hundreds of times ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 1, 2020
0
1462
In research that casts cells as curators of their own history, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have discovered that adult tissues retain a memory, inscribed on their DNA, of the embryonic cells from which they arose. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 21, 2019
0
1340
Like the poet, microbes that make methane are taking chemists on a road less traveled: Of two competing ideas for how microbes make the main component of natural gas, the winning chemical reaction involves a molecule less ...
Materials Science
May 20, 2016
0
945
Ultrafast X-ray laser research led by Kansas State University has provided scientists with a snapshot of a fundamental molecular phenomenon. The finding sheds new light on microscopic electron motion in molecules.
General Physics
Jul 17, 2014
1
0
Many animals, including humans, have internal clocks and calendars to help them regulate behavior, physiological functions and biological processes. Although scientists have extensively studied the timekeeping mechanisms ...
Biotechnology
Sep 23, 2013
0
0
Bacteria populate virtually every habitat on Earth, including within and on our own bodies. Understanding and engineering bacteria can lead to new methods for diagnosing, treating, and preventing infections. Additionally, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jun 26, 2024
0
24
In recent years, technologies that allow scientists to study a person's DNA at single-molecule resolution have vastly expanded our knowledge of the human genome, the microbiome, and the genetic basis of disease. With such ...
Biotechnology
Jun 4, 2024
0
41
