RNA is key to the dark matter of the genome - scientists are sequencing it to illuminate human health and disease

Although there are striking differences between the cells that make up your eyes, kidneys, brain and toes, the DNA blueprint ...

Versatile enzyme that quickly, accurately synthesizes RNA can also perform reverse transcription

From vaccines and diagnostics to emerging gene-based therapies, RNA molecules are now central to modern medicine. But as ...
Nanowerk

Cytosine in DNA and RNA: Functions, Modifications, and Applications

This image depicts the chemical structure of cytosine. It shows a hexagonal ring with nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3, and a primary amine group attached to carbon 4. The two remaining positions ...
Nanowerk

Pyrimidine: Essential Building Block of DNA and RNA

This diagram depicts the chemical structure of pyrimidine, a six-membered aromatic ring with two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 (highlighted in blue). The remaining positions are occupied by ...
Scientific American

How RNA Unseated DNA as the Most Important Molecule in Your Body

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 ...
Scientific American

Revolutionary Genetics Research Shows RNA May Rule Our Genome

Thomas Gingeras did not intend to upend basic ideas about how the human body works. In 2012 the geneticist, now at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York State, was one of a few hundred colleagues ...
BioTechniques

DNA and RNA methylation directly linked for the first time

DNA and RNA methylation, initially thought to operate as distinct pathways, have been shown to interact closely, shifting our understanding of gene regulation. A team of researchers from the ...