In prokaryotes, DNA replication initiates at a single defined origin and proceeds bidirectionally via a multiprotein replisome that unwinds the duplex and synthesises new strands. Elongation is ...

Brandt Eichman and Walter Chazin, professors of biochemistry, have worked together to provide a better understanding of how exactly DNA replication is initiated in eukaryotes. Using Vanderbilt's state ...

Genes, it turns out, are not always the tidy, well-separated units that textbook diagrams suggest. Across the tree of life, ...

In prokaryotic cells, transcription (DNA to mRNA) and translation (mRNA to protein) are so closely linked that translation usually begins before transcription is complete. In eukaryotic cells, however ...

Prokaryotic single-celled organisms, the ancestors of modern-day bacteria and archaea, are the most ancient form of life on our planet, first appearing roughly 3.5 billion years ago. The first ...

A new study challenges a popular scenario put forward to explain the arrival of the first eukaryotic organisms. In the beginning, there was boredom. Following the emergence of cellular life on earth, ...