Genes contain instructions for making proteins, and a central dogma of biology is that this information flows from DNA to RNA to proteins. But only two percent of the human genome actually encodes ...

When a gene produces too much protein, it can have devastating consequences on brain development and function. Patients with an overproduction of protein from the chromodomain helicase DNA binding ...

Various sayings equate going fast with going alone. But none of them apply to the gene expression journey described by a research team from the University of Göttingen. The team, led by Heike Krebber, ...

In RNA molecules, the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) is located directly upstream of the start codon and plays a crucial role in post-transcriptional regulation by controlling RNA stability, cellular ...

What keeps our cells the right size? Scientists have long puzzled over this fundamental question, since cells that are too large or too small are linked to many diseases. Until now, the genetic basis ...

Long known as a messenger within cells, RNA is increasingly seen as life’s molecular communication system — even between organisms widely separated by evolution. For a molecule of RNA, the world is a ...

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 ...