In human cells, there are about 20,000 genes on a two-meter DNA strand—finely coiled up in a nucleus about 10 micrometers in diameter. By comparison, this corresponds to a 40-kilometer thread packed ...

Changes in genes have been linked to the development of different diseases for a while. However, it's not exactly clear what ...

A research team has successfully identified a novel DNA damage repair pathway in human cells. This study is the first to discover that proteins present in the nuclear membrane of cells directly ...

There are hundreds of cell types in the human body, each with a specific role spelled out in their DNA. In theory, all it ...

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, ...

Non-coding DNA is essential for both humans and trypanosomes, despite the large evolutionary divergence between these two species.

How much of our genome really matters? Some argue that because most of our DNA is active, it must be doing something important. Others say even random DNA would be highly active. This has now been put ...