Half a century ago, scientists Jim Watson and Alexey Olovnikov independently realized that there was a problem with how our DNA gets copied. A quirk of linear DNA replication dictated that telomeres ...

The initiation of chromosome replication is exquisitely regulated in both time and location. It has been estimated that there are 200-400 autosomal replication sequence elements (ARSs) in the yeast ...

When bacteria cells replicate, they do so a little differently than human cells do. They don't undergo mitosis, a splitting that involves construction of spindles to carefully separate the DNA after ...

A new article analyzes in depth the physical problems associated with DNA packaging that have often been neglected in structural models of chromosomes. The study demonstrates that the multilaminar ...

It's tricky to make an exact copy of yourself. Or at least it is for cells undergoing mitosis, where cells replicate everything inside of them, including their neatly packaged DNA, then split in half.

Unfortunately, this book can't be printed from the OpenBook. If you need to print pages from this book, we recommend downloading it as a PDF. Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this ...

Human DNA, which is approximately two meters in length, is organized into a compact, thread-like structure known as the chromatin, so it could fit into the nucleus, a tiny sphere that’s only about six ...