Genes and genetics

CRISPR gene editing: Moving closer to home

With the first medical therapy approved, there’s a lot going on in the genome editing field, including the discovery of CRISPR-like DNA-snippers called Fanzors in an odd menagerie of eukaryotic critters.

From lab to land: Crop modifications are fortifying our food supply against climate change

Scientists explore genetic and biochemical innovations fueling future-proofing agriculture

What makes lager yeast special? Inside the genetics of beer

University of Wisconsin scientists explore a microbe’s cold-tolerance for better brewing.

Gene-mutation pathway discovery paves way for targeted blood cancers therapies

A new study by researchers at the universities of Texas and Chicago explains the enzymatic activity that’s needed for tumor suppression in leukemias and other cancers.

The shape of molecules to come

Researchers explore unique properties of a nanostructure called “switchback DNA” that could have implications in nature and in biomedicine.

Bacteria encode hidden genes outside their genome — do we?

A new study by Columbia researchers shows that bacteria break the known order of chromosomes as linear strings of letters and create free-floating and ephemeral genes.

Keeping skin healthy: New method provides molecular portrait of sebum production

In a recent JBC paper, researchers at Leipzig University report that they have spatially mapped changes in gene expression in sebaceous glands for the first time.

Not so selfish after all: Viruses use freeloading genes as weapons

Phage viruses, increasingly used to treat antibiotic resistance, gain an advantage by cutting off a competitor’s ability to reproduce.

The perverse legacy of participation in human genomic research

The story of how one person became the majority source of DNA for the Human Genome Project encapsulates 20th-century researchers’ attitudes toward donor consent, the author says.