In most modern cells, DNA stores the genetic blueprint, and relies on proteins to replicate, repair and build from those ...

For decades, the central dogma of molecular biology—DNA makes RNA, RNA makes protein, protein makes phenotype—was the guiding framework for understanding inheritance and disease. This model explained ...

A ribozyme found by accident selectively repairs broken RNA, suggesting early life could have preserved its genetic code ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Sunburn has traditionally been attributed to UV-induced DNA damage. However, a new study reveals that RNA, another vital cellular molecule, plays a major role in triggering acute sunburn reactions.