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 ...

Microtubules, the dynamic filaments that form the cell's internal scaffolding, have long been viewed as mere passive structural supports. But a new study reveals they play a far more active signaling ...

Small, cancer-associated DNA circles "hitchhike" on chromosomes during cell division to spread efficiently to daughter cells by co-opting a process used to maintain cellular identity through ...

The human genetic blueprint is deceptively simple. Our genes are tightly wound into 46 X-shaped structures called chromosomes. Crafted by evolution, they carry DNA and replicate when cells divide, ...

A hallmark of cancerous cells is an abnormal number of chromosomes or chromosome arms, known as aneuploidy. While aneuploidy is detrimental to regular cells, it occurs in as many as 90% of tumors. How ...

Researchers at Tulane University School of Medicine have discovered that if animal cells gain an extra set of chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy, they activate a stress signaling pathway ...

Sex chromosomes are chromosomes, or packages of DNA, that are found inside the nucleus of all of your cells. There are two different kinds: X and Y, which determine whether you’re biologically male ...

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 ...