How molecular scissors cut in the right place

A research group at Uppsala University has found out how CRISPR-Cas9—also known as 'molecular scissors'—can search the genome for a specific DNA sequence. Cas9 already has many applications in biotechnology and is also ...

Molecular scissors help evolutionary investigation

Scientists at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) detected an important mechanism in the evolution of plant genomes: Using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism, they studied the formation of tandem repeat DNA sequences ...

How to remove tangles in your DNA

(Phys.org) —DNA damage is a fact of life. On any given day, an organism's DNA will suffer between 10,000 and 1,000,000 breaks or other damage. These problems are repaired by enzymes in our cells that fix the breaks, remove ...

An arms-race with mutual benefits

When you hear the word "mutations", you probably think of something negative like heritable diseases. But mutations also mean genetic diversity and are at the centre of evolution. Researchers have now uncovered a surprisingly ...

Precise molecular surgery in the plant genome

Crop plants have always been adapted to the needs of man by breeding for them to carry more fruit, survive droughts, or resist pests. Green biotechnology now adds new tools to the classical breeding methods for a more rapid ...

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