Researchers capture never-before-seen view of gene transcription

Every living cell transcribes DNA into RNA. This process begins when an enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNAP) clamps onto DNA. Within a few hundred milliseconds, the DNA double helix unwinds to form a node known as the transcription ...

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Genome sequencing alone provides researchers with only limited information on the organism works because it neither reveals how the system is regulated nor does it indicate the role of each specific DNA sequence or RNA transcript. ...

Viable and fertile fruit flies in the absence of histone H3.3

Histones—proteins that package DNA—affect cell function differently than previously assumed: the cell doesn't need the histone H3.3 to read genes. Molecular biologists from the University of Zurich demonstrate that fruit ...

Integrator: A guardian of the human transcriptome

In a joint collaboration, Danish and German researchers have characterized a cellular activity that protects our cells from potentially toxic by-products of gene expression. This activity is central for the ability of multicellular ...

Keeping chromosomes in check: A new role for heterochromatin

Although many people are aware that chromosomal damage and shortening contribute to the aging process, understanding how chromosomal defects occur is about more than just finding a way to turn back the clock. Large changes ...

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