News tagged with dna replication

Drugs targeting chromosomal instability may fight a particular breast cancer subtype

Another layer in breast cancer genetics has been peeled back. A team of researchers at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) led by Richard G. Pestell, M.D., PhD., FACP, Director of the KCC and Chair of the Department of ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Ultra short telomeres linked to osteoarthritis

Telomeres, the very ends of chromosomes, become shorter as we age. When a cell divides it first duplicates its DNA and, because the DNA replication machinery fails to get all the way to the end, with each successive cell ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Quantitative imaging application to gut and ear cells

From tracking activities within bacteria to creating images of molecules that make up human hair, several experiments have already demonstrated the unique abilities of the revolutionary imaging technique called multi-isotope ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jan 15, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

CSHL's DNA Learning Center awarded Science magazine SPORE prize

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's DNA Learning Center (DNALC) has been awarded the Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) for its creation of a science education portal at www.dnalc.org that attracts more than 7 million ...

Other Sciences / Other

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Visualization of DNA synthesis in vivo

Researchers of the University of Zurich have discovered a new substance for labeling and visualization of DNA synthesis in whole animals. Applications for this technique include identifying the sites of virus ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Nanoparticles offer insights into interactions between single-stranded DNA and their binding proteins

Double-stranded DNA must disentangle itself into single strands during replication or repair to allow functional molecules to bind and perform their various operations. Cellular proteins specifically bind ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study reveals new role for RNA interference during chromosomal replication

At the same time that a cell's DNA gets duplicated, a third of it gets super-compacted into repetitive clumps called heterochromatin. This dense packing serves to repress or "silence" the DNA sequences within -- which could ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Elite controllers block integration of HIV DNA into host genome

Alone among those infected with HIV-1, so-called elite controllers spontaneously maintain undetectable levels of viral replication even absent the benefit of anti-retroviral therapy. Now Mathias Lichterfeld of the Massachusetts ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 19, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

For unzipping DNA mysteries -- literally -- physicists discover how a vital enzyme works

With an eye toward understanding DNA replication, Cornell researchers have learned how a helicase enzyme works to actually unzip the two strands of DNA.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Biologists' discovery may force revision of biology textbooks

Basic biology textbooks may need a bit of revising now that biologists at UC San Diego have discovered a never-before-noticed component of our basic genetic material.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 18, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (23) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Researchers reveal a new mechanism of genomic instability

Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have discovered the cellular mechanisms that normally generate chromosomal breaks in bacteria such as E. coli. The study's findings are published in the August 18 issue of the journal ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 18, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Biology, materials science get a boost from robust imaging tool

Shape and alignment are everything. How nanometer-sized pieces fit together into a whole structure determines how well a living cell or an artificially fabricated device performs. A new method to help understand ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Aug 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

A $1000 genome could be reached by 2013

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new report published in the journal Nature describes the new machine created by Jonathan Rothberg of Ion Torrent Systems which uses semiconductors to decode DNA and takes them one step c ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Scientists identify molecular basis for DNA breakage

Scientists from the Hebrew University have identified the molecular basis for DNA breakage, a hallmark of cancer cells. The findings of this research have just been published in the journal Molecular Cell.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 19, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists find 'brake-override' proteins that enable development of some cancers

Scripps Research Institute scientists have discovered a basic mechanism that can enable developing cancer cells to sustain abnormal growth. The finding is expected to lead to the targeting of this mechanism with drugs and ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

DNA replication

DNA replication, the basis for biological inheritance, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is "semiconservative" in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand. Hence, following DNA replication, two identical DNA molecules have been produced from a single double-stranded DNA molecule. Cellular proofreading and error-checking mechanisms ensure near perfect fidelity for DNA replication.

In a cell, DNA replication begins at specific locations in the genome, called "origins". Unwinding of DNA at the origin, and synthesis of new strands, forms a replication fork. In addition to DNA polymerase, the enzyme that synthesizes the new DNA by adding nucleotides matched to the template strand, a number of other proteins are associated with the fork and assist in the initiation and continuation of DNA synthesis.

DNA replication can also be performed in vitro (outside a cell). DNA polymerases, isolated from cells, and artificial DNA primers are used to initiate DNA synthesis at known sequences in a template molecule. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a common laboratory technique, employs such artificial synthesis in a cyclic manner to amplify a specific target DNA fragment from a pool of DNA.

For more information about DNA replication, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.