During sexual reproduction, haploid gametes (i.e. eggs and sperm) are generated from diploid precursors through the specialized cell division of meiosis. Meiosis reduces ploidy by following one round ...

Researchers at Rice University are making strides in understanding how chromosome structures change throughout the cell's life cycle. Their study on motorized processes that actively influence the ...

Holocentric chromosomes have evolved independently from X-shaped monocentric chromosomes multiple times in both animals and plants, but the mechanism behind the centromere-type transition is unknown.

One of the challenges of working with ancient DNA samples is that damage accumulates over time, breaking up the structure of the double helix into ever smaller fragments. In the samples we've worked ...

The iconic X-shaped organization of metaphase chromosomes is frequently presented in textbooks and other media. The drawings explain in captivating manner that the majority of genetic information is ...

Scientists have discovered a new property of the molecular motors that shape our chromosomes. While six years ago they found that these so-called SMC motor proteins make long loops in our DNA, they ...

Among the many marvels of life is the cell's ability to divide and thus enable organisms to grow and renew themselves. For this, the cell must duplicate its DNA – its genome – and segregate it equally ...

The centromere is necessary for the transport of chromosomes during cell division and, therefore, for the correct transmission of genetic information. Most plants and animals have chromosomes with a ...

Chromosomal rearrangements, such as chromosome segment inversions, may affect the epigenetic landscape as well as gene expression. Different kinds of chromosome segment inversions have been found in ...