Loops, Flags and Tension in DNA
Chromosomes are organized into loops that regulate genetic information processing, and these loops are extruded by SMC protein complexes like condensin and cohesin. The DNA-binding…
Chromosomes News
Why Are Viral Infections More Severe in Men? Researchers May Have Solved the Mystery
For a long time, it has been known that viral infections can be more severe in males than females, but the question as to why…
New Hope for Treatment of Rare Metabolic Brain Disease
Scientists reveal the results of a controlled clinical trial for a new drug to treat X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. X-ALD is the most prevalent of the approximately…
Individuals With Extra X or Y Chromosome at Higher Risk of Life-Threatening Blood Clots
A Geisinger study has uncovered that individuals with supernumerary sex chromosome aneuploidy, a condition characterized by an extra X or Y chromosome, are at a…
Scientists Reconstruct the Genome of the 180-Million-Year-Old Common Ancestor of All Mammals
University of California, Davis scientists help reveal the genome of the common ancestor of all mammals From a platypus to a blue whale, all living…
Scientists Discover That Chromosomes Are Fluid
Chromosome manipulation in live cells indicates that they are fluid. Researchers from CNRS, the Curie Institute, and Sorbonne University have successfully physically acted on chromosomes in live…
Normally Taking a Million Years: Scientists Successfully Fuse Chromosomes in Mammals
Researchers engineer the first sustainable chromosomal alterations in mice. In nature, evolutionary chromosomal changes may take a million years, but scientists have recently reported a novel…
A New Study Reveals Why It Is So Hard for Humans To Have a Baby
Why is it so hard for humans to have a baby? A new study by a researcher at the Milner Center for Evolution at the…
Shrouded in Mystery: Scientists Finally Discover the Origin of Chromatin
Analysis of the genome and proteome shows that eukaryotic evolution gave rise to the regulatory function of chromatin. Two meters of DNA must fit into…
The Sex of Your Cells Matters When It Comes to Heart Disease
Most mammals, including humans, have two sex chromosomes, X and Y. One sex chromosome is usually inherited from each parent, and they pair up as…
How Molecular Clusters in the Cell Nucleus Interact With Chromosomes
A new study finds the clusters form small, stable droplets and may give the genome a gel-like structure. A cell stores all of its genetic…
Supercomputers Reveal the Secrets of How X Chromosomes Fold and Deactivate
Combining lab data with supercomputing power reveals role of RNA and chromosome structure in regulating gene expression. Using supercomputer-driven dynamic modeling based on experimental data,…
X Chromosome Reactivation Provides a Potential Strategy for Treating X-Linked Disorders
A study from a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators points toward a potential strategy for treating X-linked disorders – those caused by mutations…
DNA2 Molecule Helps Repair Chromosome Rearrangements Linked to Cancer
Researchers from Yale University have identified how the molecule DNA2 helps begin the complex process of repairing breaks in DNA that can cause chromosome rearrangements…
How Down Syndrome and Low SNX27 Are Connected
In a newly published study, researchers show how Down syndrome and low SNX27 are connected, discovering that the extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome impairs…
Telomerase Gene Therapy Extends Mouse Lifespan by 24%
Inducing cells to express telomerase, the enzyme which is supposed to slow down the metabolic clock, has enabled researchers boost the lifespan of mouse by…
The Tomato Genomics Consortium Sequences the Tomato Genome
The Tomato Genomics Consortium fully sequenced the genome of the tomato, Solanum Lycopersicum. They report in the Journal Nature that tomatoes possess some 35,000 genes…
Cancer Cells May Grow More Easily than Thought
Geneticists at Harvard Medical School have discovered how a deletion in one gene from one parent, called a “hemizygous” deletion, can contribute to cancer, suggesting…
