Structures of the clamp loader–clamp complex reveal that nature uses machined parts in the form of a spiral scaffold (the clamp loader) to thread a circlet (the clamp) on a helix of DNA. The scaffold ...

Every time a cell divides, it must copy its entire genome so that each daughter cell inherits a complete set of DNA. During that process, enzymes known as polymerases race along the DNA to copy its ...

Humans and baker's yeast have more in common than meets the eye, including an important mechanism that helps ensure DNA is copied correctly, reports a pair of studies. The findings visualize for the ...

DNA is often likened to a blueprint. The particular sequence of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts in DNA provides information for building an organism. What’s not captured by this analogy is the fact that our DNA ...

The clamp then closes and signals to the polymerases that they can begin replicating DNA. Using high-powered cryo-electron microscopes, Li, O'Donnell and their teams revealed previously unknown facets ...

Though scientists have learned much about DNA damage and repair over the past 50 years, important outstanding questions remain. One particularly bedeviling puzzle is how a repair protein called the ...

The DNA damage response is essential for maintaining genome integrity. When DNA damage or replication stress occurs, a checkpoint signaling pathway is activated to arrest the cell cycle and initiate ...

DNA is often likened to a blueprint. The particular sequence of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts in DNA provides information for building an organism. What’s not captured by this analogy is the fact that our DNA ...

BERKELEY, CA -The molecular machinery that starts the process by which a biological cell divides into two identical daughter cells apparently worked so well early on that evolution has conserved it ...

DNA replication is a complex process with many moving parts. In baker's yeast, the molecular complex Ctf18-RFC keeps parts of the replication machinery from falling off the DNA strand. Human cells use ...