An arms race is unfolding in our cells: Transposons, also known as jumping genes or mobile genetic elements as they can replicate and reinsert themselves in the genome, threaten the cell's genome ...

Like its viral cousins, a somewhat parasitic DNA sequence called a retrotransposon has been found borrowing the cell's own machinery to achieve its goals. In a new work appearing online Wednesday in ...

Gene silencing associated with repeated DNA sequences has been reported for many eukaryotes, including plants. However, its biological significance remains to be determined. One important function ...

In a recent study published in Cell, a research team led by LI Wei and ZHOU Qi from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed an innovative gene-writing technology ...

Genomes are hotbeds of evolutionary conflict. Perhaps nothing speaks to this idea better than the war raging between retrotransposons and their host genomes. Retrotransposons, often referred to as ...

Like their viral cousins, retrotransposons have been found borrowing the cell's own machinery to achieve their goals. They hijack a little-known piece of the cell's DNA repair function to close ...

Retrotransposons are evolutionarily ancient genes that “jump” around the human genome leaving a slew of repeat nucleotide sequences in their wake. These repeats can disturb normal gene function.

Based on previous studies in fruit flies, Andrea Schorn and Rob Martienssen of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory thought the answer to what protects vulnerable mouse embryo genomes might lie in small RNAs ...

Molecular, or DNA-based, markers have been increasingly important in plant breeding because of their phenotypic stability, useful polymorphism, and ease of development which permits production of high ...