Cauliflowers present an unusual organ arrangement with a multitude of spirals nested over a wide range of scales. How such a fractal, self-similar organization...
Commensal bacteria are found throughout an organism, but it is not known whether associations between gut bacteria and their host are heritable. In a new...
A team of U.S. scientists has developed a CRISPR-based method for studying how eukaryotic cells repair DNA in space.
Astronaut Christina Koch plating Saccharomyces...
An international team of scientists has successfully sequenced the nuclear genome of Megaladapis edwardsi, a species of megafaunal lemur that went extinct...
In a new study published this week in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers analyzed DNA from more than 700 sediment samples that were...
A team of UK researchers has decoded the complete genome of a semi-aquatic mammal called the European water vole (Arvicola amphibius).
The European water...
The banks of the artificial water reservoirs in Tikal, a major city of the ancient Maya world in what is now northern Guatemala, were primarily fringed...
A team of researchers from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, the University of Southern California, the Beckman Research Institute of the City...
Paleontologists have examined 6,800- to 4,600-year-old coprolites attributed to the little bush moa (Anomalopteryx didiformis). The results support the...
A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests that dogs’ social skills emerge early in development and are under strong genetic control.
Genetic...
An international team of scientists has sequenced and assembled the genome of the Basenji dog (Canis lupus familiaris), an ancient dog breed of central...
Each human cell, at metaphase, normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, or 46 in total. Within these are four copies of 3.5 billion base pairs of DNA....
Scientists have sequenced and analyzed the genome of the Kordofan melon (Citrullus lanatus subsp. cordophanus), a Sudanese form of melon with nonbitter...
In new research, an international team of scientists sequenced and analyzed mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of living and extinct caballine horses (Equus...
A research team in China has produced the high-quality reference genome for ‘Jingxun 2,’ a cultivar of the lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) recently...
A team of researchers in China has sequenced and assembled the high-quality reference genome for the Yap hadal snailfish, which was captured at a depth...
An international team of researchers has for the first time mapped the genome of the lemon-scented gum (Corymbia citriodora).
Lemon-scented gum trees (Corymbia...
The oral microbiome plays key roles in human biology, health, and disease, but little is known about the global diversity, variation, or evolution of this...
An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genomes 50 giraffe individuals representing all traditionally recognized subspecies....
![Ternary structure of Polθ on a DNA/RNA primer-template: (A) Polθ polymerase; (B) DNA/RNA extension by Polθ and PolθΔL; (C) structure of Polθ:DNA/RNA:ddGTP; (D) superposition of Polθ:DNA/RNA (marine) and Polθ:DNA/DNA (orange, 4x0q); the fingers and thumb subdomains undergo reconfiguration; (E) superposition of Polθ:DNA/RNA (marine) and Polθ:DNA/DNA (orange, 4x0q) highlighting a 12-Å shift of K2181 (blue box; thumb) and a 4.4-Å shift of E2246 (gray box; palm); (F) superposition of nucleic acids and ddGTP from Polθ:DNA/RNA:ddGTP and Polθ:DNA/DNA:ddGTP structures; (G) top: electron density of ddGTP and 3′ primer terminus in Polθ:DNA/RNA structure; bottom: zoomed-in image of the superposition of active sites, illustrating a different conformation of ddGTP in the Polθ:DNA/RNA (blue) and Polθ:DNA/DNA (salmon) complexes; (H) interactions between ribose 2’-hydroxyl groups of the RNA template and residues in the Polθ:DNA/RNA structure; red dashed lines, hydrogen bonds; (I) DNA/RNA used for cocrystallization with Polθ and ddGTP (top); strong electron density is present for four base pairs [nucleotides located at positions 2 to 5 (underlined) of the DNA/RNA] and two base pairs resulting from an incorporated ddGMP (2’,3’ dideoxyguanosine monophosphate) (green; position 1) and a bound unincorporated ddGTP (red; position 0) in the active site (top); interactions between Polθ and nucleic acids in Polθ:DNA/RNA:ddGTP (bottom); interactions between residues and phosphate backbone, sugar oxygen, or nucleobase are shown in blue, yellow, and green, respectively; hydrogen bonds between Polθ and ribose 2’-hydroxyl groups are indicated (boxed residues); (J) interactions between Polθ and nucleic acids in Polθ:DNA/DNA:ddGTP (4x0q); color scheme identical to (I). Image credit: Chandramouly et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf1771.](https://cdn.sci.news/images/2021/06/image_9759-Polymerase-Theta-195x110.jpg)
