Chromosomes are thread-like structures comprising DNA that are present inside the nucleus of every cell in the body. Specific segments of DNA are called genes. Every chromosome contains many genes, ...

Scientists have now created an encyclopedia of gene function for all known human genes that code for protein. This data uses the most current and reliable data, and it has also been released on a ...

Libby Copeland is the author of The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are. “Have you found an article of clothing with a suspicious stain?” asks the website of one Florida-based company ...

Tiny tweaks in DNA folding can have big effects. A study from Umeå University shows that even the most subtle changes in DNA's shape have an important influence on gene activity and energy production.

Neurons are the anatomical and functional unit of the nervous system, regulating both vital functions and higher functions. Among the very few cells in the body that do not regenerate, these cells ...

A novel type of “jumping gene” may explain why the genomes of complex cells aren’t all equally stuffed with noncoding sequences. All animals, plants, fungi and protists — which collectively make up ...

The (when stretched) two-meter-long DNA molecule in each human cell is continuously being unpacked and packed again to enable the expression of genetic information. When genes must be accessed for ...

Viruses are ancient. They have been infecting animals, our ancestors included, for hundreds of millions of years before the first humans ever showed up. And the legacy of those primordial infections ...

Most of us go through life thinking we’re blessed—and dinged—by the genes we’ve inherited. Maybe you got your mom’s gorgeous eyes but also her astigmatism, or you scored the tall-and-slender genes ...

Thousands of new genes are hidden inside the “dark matter” of our genome. Previously thought to be noise left over from evolution, a new study found that some of these tiny DNA snippets can make ...