The DNA packed inside every human cell contains instructions for life, written in billions of letters of genetic code. Every time a cell divides, the complete code, divided among 46 chromosomes, must ...

The eukaryotic cell cycle orchestrates the orderly duplication and segregation of genetic material through distinct phases—G₁ (growth and monitoring), S (DNA synthesis), G₂ (preparation for division) ...

The human genome consists of 3 billion base pairs, and when a cell divides, it takes about seven hours to complete making a copy of its DNA. That's almost 120,000 base pairs per second. At that ...

For decades, scientists believed a fertilized egg’s DNA began as a shapeless mass, only organizing itself once the embryo switched on its genes. But new research reveals that the genome is already ...

DNA replication is one of life’s most precise and essential processes, ensuring genetic information is faithfully passed from cell to cell and generation to generation. This remarkable molecular ...

Cyanobacteria—ancient microbes that oxygenated Earth and made complex life possible—are still revealing surprises billions of years later. Scientists have now discovered that a molecular system once ...

The herpesvirus can manipulate our DNA with far more precision than previously thought. The virus condenses and changes the shape of our genetic material to hijack the host genes needed for ...

When cells proliferate, genomic DNA is precisely duplicated once per cell cycle. Abnormalities in this DNA replication process can cause alterations in genomic DNA, promoting cellular ageing, cancer, ...

“The laws of inheritance are quite unknown,” Charles Darwin acknowledged in 1859. The discovery of DNA’s shape altered how we conceived of life itself. The X-ray crystallography by Rosalind Franklin ...

A simulated cell in the early stages of division. Left half shows cytoplasm (blue cubes), mRNA degradation machinery molecules (pink), and sugar transporters (brown). Right half adds the membrane ...

DNA is often called the blueprint of life, but what does that really mean? Elizabeth Worthey, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Genetics in the Heersink School of Medicine, explains everything ...