Accurate RNA splicing is essential for gene expression and human health, yet predicting how DNA sequence variations affect ...

The factors involved in the removal of RNA primers during plastid DNA (ptDNA) replication have been unclear. We now identify a plastid-localized 5′–3′ exonuclease (PEN1) that mediates the removal of ...

The RNA-peptide world hypothesis postulates the early co-evolution of RNA and peptides that led to the emergence of non-enzymatic RNA replication and peptide synthesis. Although nucleotides and amino ...

Recent research showed that an artificially constructed RNA self-replicating system modeling primitive life at the origin of life evolved to become more prone to extinction under certain experimental ...

Your DNA is continually damaged by sources both inside and outside your body. One especially severe form of damage called a double-strand break involves the severing of both strands of the DNA double ...

If you are anything like us, whenever you plan a journey, you spend a remarkable amount of time thinking about the start and ...

Chemists at UCL and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology have demonstrated how RNA (ribonucleic acid) might have replicated itself on early Earth—a key process in the origin of life. Scientists ...

CRISPR’s rise from obscure bacterial defense system to molecular scalpel has always hinged on one small component: the guide RNA. For years, that guide RNA—meticulously designed, modified, and ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of ...

A chemical modification in the HIV-1 RNA genome whose function has been a matter of scientific debate is now confirmed to be key to the virus's ability to survive and thrive after infecting host cells ...

For decades scientists have recognized that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a formidable viral pathogen. After years of probing work and extensive experimentation, a Yale research team has ...