DNA does not float freely in the cell. Instead, it is wrapped around histone proteins to form structures called nucleosomes.

If you took high school biology, you probably learned about cell division: a crucial process in all life forms officially called mitosis. For over one hundred years, students have learned that during ...

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 ...

As the cell proceeds through the stages of cell division (from left to right: interphase, prometaphase, metaphase, and anaphase), chromosomes become progressively more compact through a combination of ...

Ichthyosporeans Sphaeroforma arctica and Chromosphaera perkinsii undergoing mitosis, depicted as two halves of a cell, rendered in Haeckel-inspired tones and a naturalist style. Cell division is one ...

Researchers have found a molecular mechanism that prevents multiplication of potentially dangerous cells by measuring the duration of mitosis. They have shown that this mechanism -- the Mitotic ...

Scientists reveal new plant cell walls can have significantly different mechanical properties compared to surrounding parental cell walls, enabling cells to change their local shape and influence the ...

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center and the University of Oxford have found that a cellular housekeeping function called autophagy—by which cell components are broken down and recycled—plays a ...

Cancer is characterized by cells that divide and grow uncontrollably, creating tumors. Researchers have shown that a new cancer therapy, which was tested in mice, can slow or stop the division of ...

The beginning of life is shrouded in mystery. While the intricate dynamics of mitosis is well-studied in the so-called somatic cells – the cells that have a specialized function, like skin and muscle ...