Life's instructions are written in DNA, but it is the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) that reads the script, transcribing RNA in eukaryotic cells and eventually giving rise to proteins. Scientists ...

RNA Polymerase (shown in blue) moves across a template strand of DNA (shown in purple) and transcribes it into RNA (shown in red). But DNA damage blocks the RNA polymerase, causing it to stall and ...

The mammalian elongation complex has remained a mystery – until researchers discovered how it controls its speed.

A team of physicists working at the intersection of theory and experiment are shedding new light on the 'teamwork' of molecular motors -- called RNA polymerases (RNAPs) -- that mediate DNA ...

Every living cell must interpret its genetic code - a sequence of chemical letters that governs countless cellular functions. A new study by researchers from the Center for Theoretical Biological ...

A cell protein previously believed only to provide a scaffolding for DNA has also been shown to directly influence DNA transcription into RNA – the first step of the process by which an organism's ...

For decades, biologists treated DNA as a static string of letters, a linear code that cells read like text on a page. A new wave of research is forcing a rethink, showing that the three-dimensional ...

Researchers have discovered that in thale cresses histone H3 lysine-9 (H3K9) methylation, conventionally thought to be a mark of turning off gene transcription, can also turn on gene expression via ...

A new study reports that the locations where genes begin are particularly prone to mutations, and these genetic changes can ...