An international research team has identified a human protein, ANKLE1, as the first DNA-cutting enzyme (nuclease) in mammals capable of detecting and responding to physical tension in DNA. This ...

Today (September 19), the Lasker Foundation announced this year’s winners of the Lasker Awards. Zhijian “James” Chen, a biochemist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, was awarded ...

Enzymes that cut DNA at specific sites are called endonucleases; these enzymes play many roles in genomic replication, fidelity, and defense. The initial discovery of restriction endonucleases in the ...

There are many health problems that can be traced back to errors in the genetic code. There are also many potential benefits to genetic engineering outside of healthcare. Nature has already found ways ...

Researchers from Durham University, Jagiellonian University (Poland) and the John Innes Centre have achieved a breakthrough in understanding DNA gyrase, a vital bacterial enzyme and key antibiotic ...

Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, in collaboration with Artios, have identified how an enzyme involved in DNA repair (POLQ), becomes vital to the survival of certain cancers, if the cancer ...

CRISPR—Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats—is the microbial world’s answer to adaptive immunity. Bacteria don’t generate antibodies when they are invaded by a pathogen and then ...

Inside every cell, a finely tuned metabolic network determines when to build, recycle, or stop producing essential molecules. A central part of this network is folate metabolism, a process that ...

An entirely new approach to inhibiting DNA-cleaving enzymes works through the aggregation of an otherwise non-toxic molecule. This discovery may lead to a much-needed method for curbing Streptococcus ...