Next-generation sequencing has identified scores of new microorganisms, but getting even abundant bacterial species to grow in the lab has proven challenging.
Evidence is mounting that epigenetic marks on DNA can influence future generations in a variety of ways. But how such phenomena might affect large-scale evolutionary processes is hotly debated.
From detecting gravity and the Earth’s magnetic field to feeling heat and the movement of water around them, animals can do more than just see, smell, touch, taste, and hear.
The unicellular ancestor of animals may have harbored some of the molecular tools that its many-celled descendants use to coordinate and direct cell differentiation and function, scientists show.
Helen Dell(hdell@the-scientist.com) | Jul 3, 2005 | 6 min read
Everyone knows that the first genome sequencing projects took years of work and represent the combined product of tens of thousands of individual fragments.
Understanding biology’s software—the rules that enable great plasticity in how cell collectives generate reliable anatomies—is key to advancing tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.