New analytical methods developed at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions have increased our understanding of how bacteria manage DNA. The methods have enabled researchers to ...

The Human Genome Project changed everything. A map of the entire human sequence of DNA was the starting point for an enormous number of discoveries, from disease genes to how humans evolved. But DNA ...

When people think of DNA, they visualize a string-like double helix structure. In reality, the DNA double helix in cells is supercoiled and constrained into loops. This supercoiling and looping are ...

Despite being densely packed to fit into the nucleus, chromosomes storing our genetic information are always in motion. This allows specific regions to come into contact and thereby activate a gene. A ...

DNA is the blueprint of life. Genes encode proteins and serve as the body's basic components. However, building a functioning organism also requires precise instructions about when, where, and how ...

Unlike most cell types, which continuously divide, neurons have to last for the life of the organism. How do they do that? One way neurons stay healthy is by repairing their DNA as they transcribe it.

Researchers at Kyushu University have revealed how spatial distance between specific regions of DNA is linked to bursts of gene activity. Using advanced cell imaging techniques and computer modeling, ...

New analytical methods developed at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions have increased our understanding of how bacteria manage DNA. The methods enabled researchers to uncover ...

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 ...

Supercoiling and looping can transmit mechanical stress along the DNA backbone that can promote the separation of the strands of the double helix at specific distant sites, exposing the DNA bases, ...