RNA Polymerase (shown in blue) moves across a template strand of DNA (shown in purple) and transcribes it into RNA (shown in red). But DNA damage blocks the RNA polymerase, causing it to stall and ...

It's a common storytelling trope: the stubborn foe who is eventually revealed to be a much-needed friend. Biology has its own ...

Researchers have discovered that in thale cresses histone H3 lysine-9 (H3K9) methylation, conventionally thought to be a mark of turning off gene transcription, can also turn on gene expression via ...

A cell protein previously believed only to provide a scaffolding for DNA has also been shown to directly influence DNA transcription into RNA – the first step of the process by which an organism's ...

A team of physicists working at the intersection of theory and experiment are shedding new light on the 'teamwork' of molecular motors -- called RNA polymerases (RNAPs) -- that mediate DNA ...

Every living cell must interpret its genetic code - a sequence of chemical letters that governs countless cellular functions. A new study by researchers from the Center for Theoretical Biological ...

As fossil fuels rise in cost and green initiatives gain traction, alternative methods for producing useful compounds using microorganisms have the potential to become sustainable, environmentally ...

These sequences are extremely prone to mutations and rank among the most functionally important regions in the entire human ...

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have uncovered a unique mechanism where two transcription factors stabilize each other’s binding to DNA in fission yeast. They found that ...

Scientists have created the first comprehensive map of DNA quadruplexes, fleeting knot-like structures that play an outsized ...