This diagram depicts the chemical structure of pyrimidine, a six-membered aromatic ring with two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 (highlighted in blue). The remaining positions are occupied by ...

Two separate laboratory breakthroughs have produced RNA molecules that can build copies of themselves or assemble functional structures without any help from proteins or DNA. These results offer the ...

A 45-nucleotide strand of RNA can now synthesize both its mirror-image complement and a copy of itself, bringing scientists ...

Your DNA is continually damaged by sources both inside and outside your body. One especially severe form of damage called a double-strand break involves the severing of both strands of the DNA double ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of DNA’s structure—the now famous double helix ...

Comparison of a single-stranded RNA and a double-stranded DNA with their corresponding nucleobases. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, CC SA 3.0) The most common type of base pairing is the Watson-Crick base ...

Although there are striking differences between the cells that make up your eyes, kidneys, brain and toes, the DNA blueprint ...

A strand of RNA just 45 nucleotides long has been discovered to perform two key reactions required for self-replication. The ...

Scientists discover QT45, a self-replicating RNA molecule, offering insights into the origins of life on Earth.

In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma ...