In the early 1960s, University of Michigan alumnus Marshall Nirenberg and a few other scientists deciphered the genetic code of life, determining the rules by which information in DNA molecules is translated into proteins, ...
Evolution
Jun 8, 2022
0
421
Number theory, the study of the properties of positive integers, is perhaps the purest form of mathematics. At first sight, it may seem far too abstract to apply to the natural world. In fact, the influential American number ...
Mathematics
Aug 1, 2023
6
592
A high-throughput genetic screening of meiotic crossover rate mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana has unraveled a century-old mystery in the life sciences.
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 8, 2024
5
97
Many life-threatening diseases are caused or exacerbated by a mere change of a single nucleotide building block in the universal genetic DNA code. Such "point mutations" can turn a single cell in the human body into a cancerous ...
Biotechnology
Mar 26, 2018
1
77
Mitochondria—the organelles responsible for energy production in human cells—were once free-living organisms that found their way into early eukaryotic cells over a billion years ago. Since then, they have merged seamlessly ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 20, 2022
0
69
Two tiny mutations in the genome of cattle likely cause some animals to be significantly more susceptible to digital dermatitis, an extremely painful disease that is widespread in cattle kept indoors. The two candidate genes ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 4, 2022
0
3
The evolution of hyperswarming, pathogenic bacteria might sound like the plot of a horror film, but such bugs really have repeatedly evolved in a lab, and the good news is that they should be less of a problem to us than ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 15, 2013
0
0
Nowhere is the adage "form follows function" more true than in the folded chain of amino acids that makes up a single protein macromolecule. But proteins are very sensitive to errors in their genetic blueprints. One single-letter ...
Biochemistry
Apr 16, 2015
0
45
Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg found that inversions in the human genome are more common than previously thought, which impacts our understanding of certain genetic diseases.
Molecular & Computational biology
May 6, 2022
0
203
The higher the temperatures, the faster physiological processes are. But there is an exception: the so-called circadian clock, which regulates the sleep-wake cycle in organisms. A fascinating question for scientists is why ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 29, 2022
0
311
