DNA Content

Computational Model Uses Language Theory to Predict DNA Shapes That Underlie Gene Expression and Disease

Andy Fell — October 03, 2025 - 11:19am

Your DNA contains the genetic blueprint necessary to not just build your body but to build the proteins and molecules that ensure your body’s functionality. DNA encodes RNA, RNA encodes proteins and voila, your body functions.

Landmark Discovery Reveals How Chromosomes Are Passed From One Generation to the Next

Andy Fell — September 24, 2025 - 5:00pm

When a woman becomes pregnant, the outcome of that pregnancy depends on many things — including a crucial event that happened while she was still growing inside her own mother’s womb. It depends on the quality of the egg cells that were already forming inside her fetal ovaries. The DNA-containing chromosomes in those cells must be cut, spliced and sorted perfectly. In males, the same process produces sperm in the testes but occurs only after puberty.

Finding Human Brain Genes in Duplicated DNA

Andy Fell — July 21, 2025 - 11:04am

What makes the human brain distinctive? A new study published July 21 in Cell identifies two genes linked to human brain features and provides a road map to discover many more. The research could lead to insights into the functioning and evolution of the human brain, as well as the roots of language disorders and autism.

Cracking the Code of Pistachio Genetics

Amy M Quinton — March 20, 2025 - 9:00am

ɫ��ɫ researchers have generated the most high-quality map of the DNA of the pistachio, allowing breeders to develop better varieties.

3D Genome Structure Guides Sperm Development

Andy Fell — March 03, 2025 - 11:22am

How 3D folding of DNA inside germ cells sets them on the path to become sperm.

Single-protein Images Show How E. coli Repairs DNA While Replicating It

Andy Fell — September 22, 2022 - 11:34am

The success of E. coli bacteria depends on their ability to multiply very rapidly by dividing into new cells. The bacteria can divide as quickly as they can make an entire new copy of their DNA while minimizing errors. New work from researchers at the ɫ��ɫ College of Biological Sciences answers a key question about how E. coli fixes damage to DNA in the middle of duplicating it.

New Human Reference Genome Opens Unexplored Regions

Andy Fell — March 31, 2022 - 11:05am

A complete sequence of the human genome has finally been published by an international consortium of scientists. The new reference genome fills in gaps left by earlier drafts, which will help researchers better understand genetic variation and how it can sometimes lead to disease.

Study Challenges Evolutionary Theory That DNA Mutations Are Random

Amy M Quinton — January 12, 2022 - 8:00am

ɫ��ɫ researchers have found that DNA mutations are not random. This changes our understanding of evolution and could one day help researchers breed better crops or even help humans fight cancer.

Denisovans or Homo Sapiens: Who Were the First to Settle (Permanently) on the Tibetan Plateau?

Karen Michele Nikos-Rose — December 07, 2021 - 8:45am

The Tibetan Plateau has long been considered one of the last places to be populated by people in their migration around the globe. A new paper by archaeologists at the ɫ��ɫ, highlights that our extinct cousins, the Denisovans, reached the “roof of the world” about 160,000 years ago — 120,000 years earlier than previous estimates for our species — and even contributed to our adaptation to high altitude.

Detection Dogs and DNA on the Trail of Endangered Lizards

Katherine E Kerlin — October 30, 2019 - 2:11pm

Detection dogs trained to sniff out the scat of an endangered lizard in California’s San Joaquin Valley, combined with genetic species identification, could represent a new, noninvasive sampling technique for lizard conservation worldwide. That is according to a study published today from the ɫ��ɫ, in partnership with the nonprofit Working Dogs for Conservation, U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.