CRISPR powers everything from gene editing to rapid diagnostics, but how did one of its most versatile branches arise? A new Cell study, “Functional RNA splitting drove the evolutionary emergence of ...

Endonuclease Cas12a, as one key part of the CRISPR/Cas biotechnology, possessed a unique dual enzymatic function which has been widely used for various applications1. However, the limits ...

Imagine the human genome as a string stretching out for the length of a football field, with all the genes that encode proteins clustered at the end near your feet. Take two big steps forward; all the ...

The findings were published in the journal Nature ("Structural basis for pegRNA-guided reverse transcription by the prime editor"). Overall structure of the prime editor complex. (Image: The ...

This image illustrates the chemical structure of a purine molecule, highlighting the numbering of the carbon and nitrogen atoms. The purine structure consists of a pyrimidine ring (positions 1 to 6) ...

In human cells, only a small proportion of the information written in genes is used to produce proteins. How does the cell select this information? A large molecular machine called the spliceosome ...

DNA and RNA methylation, initially thought to operate as distinct pathways, have been shown to interact closely, shifting our understanding of gene regulation. A team of researchers from the ...

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 ...