Centromeres play virtually the same central role across the entire tree of life: They ensure the faithful segregation of ...

Scientists at the University of Vienna, Austria, have screened great ape specimens obtained from natural history museums to identify DNA viruses. This groundbreaking study provides unique insights ...

Knowing how human DNA changes over generations is essential to estimating genetic disease risks and understanding how we evolved. But some of the most changeable regions of our DNA have been ...

SALT LAKE CITY - Evolution is often thought of as a gradual remodeling of the genome, the genetic blueprints for building an organism. In some instances it might be more appropriate to call it an ...

A bizarre and ugly fish that has been around for hundreds of millions of years has been discovered to have the most DNA of any animal ever found. These South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa) ...

Centromeres are regions of DNA where the cell's machinery grabs each chromosome and pulls it into the two daughter cells. Centromeres are essential ...

Scientists may have a step forward in understanding how life on our planet came to exist. The mystery of how tiny molecules of RNA came to be enclosed within membranes, forming the very first cells, ...

Our DNA reveals extinct "ghost lineages" that shaped human evolution, painting a complex, "braided stream" of history rather than a simple progression. These ancient groups, leaving no fossils, ...