Bacterial restriction-modification systems are responsible for protecting cells from foreign genetic material, for example, bacteriophages and plasmids. Immune systems require strict regulation, as bacteria, like humans, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 18, 2024
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29
Most people are familiar with the DNA double-helix. Its twisted ladder shape forms because the long pieces of DNA that make up our genome are exactly complementary—every adenine paired to a thymine, and every cytosine paired ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 18, 2024
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1
Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a DNA repair mechanism that advances understanding of how human cells stay healthy, and which could lead to new treatments for cancer and premature aging.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 17, 2024
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48
The blue antelope (Hippotragus leucophaeus) was an African antelope with a bluish-gray pelt related to the sable and the roan antelope. The last blue antelope was shot around 1800, just 34 years after it was first described ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 15, 2024
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215
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have discovered that tardigrades—microscopic animals famed for surviving harsh extremes—have an unusual response to radiation.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 15, 2024
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76
Leveraging gamers and video game technology can dramatically boost scientific research, according to a new study published today in Nature Biotechnology.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 15, 2024
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376
Cadmium (Cd) can accumulate in the food chain, with serious impacts on human health and safety. Microplastics (MPs) such as low density polyethylene (LDPE) should be considered not only as a single pollutant but also as a ...
Ecology
Apr 12, 2024
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0
A Northwestern Medicine study has detailed the development of a machine learning model to predict DNA methylation status in cell-free DNA by its fragmentation patterns, according to findings published in Nature Communications.
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 12, 2024
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38
Picture in your mind a traditional "landline" telephone with a coiled cord connecting the handset to the phone. The coiled telephone cord and the DNA double helix that stores the genetic material in every cell in the body ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 11, 2024
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146
Only recently, a new era in medicine began with the first RNA vaccines. These active substances are modified RNAs that trigger immune responses of the human immune system. Another approach in RNA medicine targets the body's ...
Biochemistry
Apr 10, 2024
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65
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.
Chemically, DNA consists of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds. These two strands run in opposite directions to each other and are therefore anti-parallel. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called bases. It is the sequence of these four bases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA, in a process called transcription.
Within cells, DNA is organized into X-shaped structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are duplicated before cells divide, in a process called DNA replication. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in the mitochondria (animals and plants) and chloroplasts (plants only). Prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) however, store their DNA in the cell's cytoplasm. Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed.
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