Targeting the protein-making machinery to stop harmful bacteria

One challenge in killing off harmful bacteria is that many of them develop a resistance to antibiotics. Researchers at the University of Rochester are targeting the formation of the protein-making machinery in those cells ...

Virus rounds up enzymes, disarms plant

University of Tokyo researchers have described how a plant-virus protein suppresses an important plant defense mechanism that remembers viral genetic information, providing a new target for developing the first-ever chemical ...

Edited RNA + invasive DNA add individuality

The story of why we are all so different goes well beyond the endless mixing and matching of DNA through breeding. A new study in the journal Nature Communications, for instance, reports a new molecular mechanism of individual ...

Molecular monkey arranges X-chromosome activation

X chromosomes are very special genetic material. They differ in number between men and women. To achieve equality between sexes, one out of two X chromosomes in women is silenced. In flies, the opposite happens: in male flies, ...

Physicists tease out twisted torques of DNA

Like an impossibly twisted telephone cord, DNA, the molecule that encodes genetic information, also often finds itself twisted into coils. This twisting, called supercoiling, is caused by enzymes that travel along DNA's helical ...

Enhancing RNA interference

Nanoparticles that deliver short strands of RNA offer a way to treat cancer and other diseases by shutting off malfunctioning genes. Although this approach has shown some promise, scientists are still not sure exactly what ...

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