Recent Research Highlights

Transposons are DNA sequences that can catalyze their own movement within and between genomes, and are a major source of species diversification.…

The development of organisms depends on the correct regulation of gene expression, including the silencing of genes that should not be active. This…

Scientists have known for decades that genes can be transferred from one species to another, both in animals and plants. However, the mechanism of how…

With 1.6 million casualties in 2021, tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease arising from a single agent. Resistant strains of…

Fitting two metres of DNA into a microscopic cell nucleus: that is the challenge that cohesin takes on, folding long chromosomes into many loops.…

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is the universal blueprint for protein production. Biology textbooks often depict mRNAs as an extended, string-like molecule that…

The enormous protein BIRC6 plays an important role in preventing programmed cell death – earning BIRC6 the nickname “Guardian of the Cell”. Scientists…

In animals, eggs serve as a stockpile that contains all the necessary components for the early stages of embryonic development. Ribosomes, the…

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are the gateways between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. How the individual components assemble into a functional pore is…

Researchers from the Tachibana lab show that the pioneer factor Nr5a2 can awaken the inactive genome in the early embryo. Part of this work was…

The chromosomes in our B cells mutate and delete DNA fragments to diversify the sequences that encode antibodies. Occasionally, these rearrangements…

Cancer cells often grow in environments that are low in nutrients, and they cope with this by switching to using proteins as alternative “food”.…