University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus researchers have observed how an RNA molecule from a virus forms a complex, three-dimensional structure, and is able to change its shape to hijack host proteins. The details ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 19, 2021
0
90
In one of the mysteries of mammalian development, every cell in the early female embryo shuts down one of its two copies of the X chromosome, leaving just one functional. For years, the mechanics behind this X chromosome ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 12, 2021
0
327
As scientists have probed the mysteries of life down to smaller and smaller scales, they have invented tools to help them understand what they observe. Determining the identity of DNA and RNA molecules has now become commonplace ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 21, 2021
0
80
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" ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 29, 2021
0
87
After a gene is transcribed into RNA, modifications can occur to the subunits or "bases" that make up the RNA molecule, which can affect its structure and function. The study of these changes is known as "epitranscriptomics." ...
Biotechnology
Sep 29, 2021
0
81
Researchers from IOCB Prague have discovered a new type of substances capable of safely transporting various types of nucleic acids used for therapeutic purposes into cells, from basic building blocks to long chains of RNA ...
Biochemistry
Sep 21, 2021
0
45
In modern organisms, the hereditary material DNA encodes the instructions for the synthesis of proteins—the versatile nanomachines that enable modern cells to function and replicate. But how was this functional linkage ...
Biochemistry
Aug 31, 2021
3
106
Determining the 3-D shapes of biological molecules is one of the hardest problems in modern biology and medical discovery. Companies and research institutions often spend millions of dollars to determine a molecular structure—and ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 26, 2021
0
662
The single-stranded genetic material RNA is best known for guiding the assembly of proteins in our cells and carrying the genetic code for viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and HIV. But 40 years ago, scientists discovered another hidden ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 12, 2021
0
143
A trio of researchers working at the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, has chemically synthesized a mirror-image of Pfu DNA polymerase. In their paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, ...
