Scientists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, have uncovered a crucial trick used by enteroviruses—the group behind diseases like polio, myocarditis, encephalitis, and even the common ...

RNA polymerase, the enzyme that synthesizes RNA from DNA during transcription, has been captured mid-reaction for the first ...

Bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) orchestrates the conversion of genetic information into RNA through a finely tuned cycle of initiation, elongation, pausing, proofreading and termination. During ...

Researchers have uncovered a previously hidden layer of complexity in how genes are activated, showing that water molecules play a direct and essential role in one of the most fundamental processes in ...

The enzyme RNA polymerase (RNAP) carries out transcription, copying DNA into RNA. It's the first step in gene expression, and a process fundamental to all life. But the inner workings of this ...

Every living cell transcribes DNA into RNA. This process begins when an enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNAP) clamps onto DNA. Within a few hundred milliseconds, the DNA double helix unwinds to form a ...

EM, researchers showed that water mediates catalysis and important protein interactions for RNA polymerase II function in ...

Scientists provide fresh insights on the origins of life, presenting compelling evidence supporting the 'RNA World' hypothesis. The study unveils an RNA enzyme that can make accurate copies of other ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of ...

A molecule so small it could fit on a Post-it note of genetic code has just pulled off something scientists have chased for decades: copying itself without any help from the protein machinery that ...