For successful cell division, chromosomal DNA needs to be packed into compact rod-shaped structures. Defects in this process can lead to cell death or diseases like cancer. A new study has shown how ...

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 ...

About 100 cells divide every second in our body. A key protein in cell division is a protein kinase termed Plk1, because it activates other proteins involved in this process. Plk1 is also ...

Trying to hit a target size before dividing seems like the best strategy for maintaining a precise cell size, but bacteria don't do that. Now we know why. When a single bacterial cell divides into two ...

Single-cell RNA transcriptomics allows researchers to broadly profile the gene expression of individual cells in a particular tissue. This technique has allowed researchers to identify new subsets of ...

David Pellman (left) is a professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School (both MA, USA), who also has affiliations with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (MD, USA) and the ...

Before cells can divide by mitosis, they first need to replicate all of their chromosomes, so that each of the daughter cells can receive a full set of genetic material. Scientists have until now ...

Before a cell commits fully to the process of dividing itself into two new cells, it may ensure the appropriateness of its commitment by staying for many hours - sometimes more than a day - in a ...