A new article analyzes in depth the physical problems associated with DNA packaging that have often been neglected in structural models of chromosomes. The study demonstrates that the multilaminar ...

Over the past two decades, researchers have learned that DNA inside the cell nucleus naturally folds into a network of ...

Among the many marvels of life is the cell's ability to divide and thus enable organisms to grow and renew themselves. For this, the cell must duplicate its DNA—its genome—and segregate it equally ...

Scientists have discovered a new property of the molecular motors that shape our chromosomes. While six years ago they found that these so-called SMC motor proteins make long loops in our DNA, they ...

Chromosomes are masters of organization. These long strings of DNA fold down into an ensemble of compact structures that keep needed parts of the genome accessible while tucking away those that aren’t ...

One of the challenges of working with ancient DNA samples is that damage accumulates over time, breaking up the structure of the double helix into ever smaller fragments. In the samples we’ve worked ...

Neil Hunter, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has discovered a crucial step in how chromosomes stay connected during the development for egg cells and sperm, ...

Researchers identify a novel centromere-specific histone H3 variant called the “CENP-A”, which reconstituted with H4 forms “CENP-A–H4” octasome and explore its role in mitosis. Centromeres, ...

This biography of the 1962 Nobel Prize-winning scientist reveals a mighty intellect who loved the arts as much as science.

Genes are segments of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that are located inside every human cell. The DNA inside each cell is tightly coiled in structures called chromosomes. Each chromosome contains a ...