p53 is possibly the most important protein for maintaining cellular function. Losing it is synonymous with cancer.

Identification of new archaea species elucidates the domain’s unique  biology and sheds light on its relationship to eukaryotes.

Immunoglobulin genes might have evolved much earlier than previously expected, perhaps even in the common ancestor of Cnidarians and Bilateria, a study suggests.

The transcription of DNA drives the remarkably tidy organization of chromosomes in the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium microadriaticum.

By Jeffrey M. Perkel Surpassing the Law of Averages How to expose the behaviors of genes, RNA, proteins, and metabolites in single cells. By necessity or convenience, almost everything we know about biochemistry and molecular biology derives from bulk behavior: From gene regulation to Michaelis-Menten kinetics, we understand biology in terms of what the “average” cell in a population does. But, as Jonathan Weissman of the University of Califo

Photo: Ori Fragman, Hebrew University Hordeum spontaneum, the plant studied for BARE-1 retroelements. With genome sequences arriving almost as regularly as the morning paper, the public's attention is focused on genes--new genes to protect crops against pests; rogue genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics; faulty genes that, if fixed, could cure diseases such as muscular dystrophy. What many people don't realize is that genes account for only part of an organism's DNA, and in many c

By Susan M. Gasser The Shape of Heredity Tracking the dance of DNA and structural proteins within the nucleus shows that placement makes the difference between gene activity and silence. What's true of the best architecture is also true of cellular structures: form follows function. We biologists often take this mantra to an extreme, searching for the function of a molecule or gene without much consideration of its structure, its phys

It may be humbling to think that humans have much in common with pufferfish, but at the genome level, the two are practically kissing cousins. "In terms of gene complement, we are at least 90% similar—probably higher. There are big differences in gene expression levels and alternate transcripts, but if you're talking about diversity, number and types of proteins, then it's pretty difficult to tell us apart," says Greg Elgar, group leader of the Fugu genome project at the Medical Research C

Thom Graves MediaThe audience, several hundred biophysicists strong, was not expecting a James Brown impersonation. But there he was: Physiologist Yale Goldman, keynote speaker on motility at the Biophysical Society's annual meeting, doing his "asymmetric hand-over-hand motility dance with a limp" to tinny strains of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." And while Goldman, who eschewed Brown's trademark, over-the-top couture for understated, Ivy League-issue khakis and blue blazer, won't star on MTV any

Scientists are using video games to tap the collective intelligence of people around the world, while doctors and educators are turning to games to treat and teach.