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 ...

Researchers have revealed how bacteria precisely control the genes that trigger cell division. The study shows that the MraZ protein, which normally forms a donut-shaped structure, must bend and ...

Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have deciphered the structure and unusual shape of a bacterial protein that prepares segments of DNA for the insertion of so-called jumping genes. The clamshell ...

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNR) are indispensable enzymes that convert ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs), the precursors to make up DNA. Because DNA synthesis is fundamental to cell ...

Plasmids, small circular DNA molecules found in bacteria, may contain antibiotic-resistance genes and have the ability to replicate independently. Bacteria can transfer these plasmids to one another, ...

The genomes of phages—viruses that infect bacteria—are largely composed of "dark matter": genes that encode proteins whose functions remain unknown. Less than four years ago, a team led by Prof. Rotem ...

Researchers from Durham University, Jagiellonian University (Poland) and the John Innes Centre have achieved a breakthrough in understanding DNA gyrase, a vital bacterial enzyme and key antibiotic ...