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 ...

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 ...

Researchers have come one step closer to unlocking the potential of synthetic DNA, which could help scientists develop never-before-seen proteins in the lab. The genetic alphabet contains just four ...

Microbiologists have long known that ancient, inactive viruses known as cryptic prophages can insert their genetic material into bacterial DNA. These genetic fragments allow bacteria to use ...

An INRS team discovers a new family of enzymes capable of inducing targeted cuts in single-stranded DNA . A few years ago, the advent of technology known as CRISPR was a major breakthrough in the ...

Alcohol consumption leads to the formation of a toxic compound called acetaldehyde, which damages DNA. A research team from IOCB Prague has now described in detail how cells repair this damaged ...

Harvard Medical School researchers have uncovered crucial insights into how an emerging class of antiviral drugs works.

DNA is the molecular basis of heredity, the inherited traits that pass between generations in a person's family tree. Embodied in the sequence of base pairs, DNA carries information between ...

Clumps of Mn007, which is a non-cytotoxic molecule, can inhibit DNA-cleaving enzymes specifically. “We believe that molecular aggregation will provide a rational approach for the discovery and ...

Like adding new letters to an existing language’s alphabet to expand its vocabulary, adding new synthetic nucleotides to the genetic alphabet could expand the possibilities of synthetic biology. This ...