"DNA guides are far cheaper and easier to manufacture than RNA guides, and they are far more stable," Jain said. "While RNA molecules degrade quickly, DNA can remain intact for long periods." Together ...

Caltech researchers have identified a novel chemical reaction that could explain the formation of the building blocks of DNA and RNA, the molecules that encode all of life's functions. The work is an ...

EMBL researchers created SDR-seq, a next-generation tool that decodes both DNA and RNA from the same cell. It finally opens access to non-coding regions, where most disease-associated genetic variants ...

Dr. Cech is a biochemist and the author of the forthcoming book “The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets,” from which this essay is adapted. See more of our coverage in your ...

RNA molecules carry instructions from DNA for making proteins that carry out much of the work of living cells. Knowing where these molecules are located in complex tissues is a critical part of ...

A team of engineers at the University of Florida has developed a new form of CRISPR technology that could make diagnostics and treatments safer, more precise and more affordable, while opening the ...

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 ...

CRISPR’s rise from obscure bacterial defense system to molecular scalpel has always hinged on one small component: the guide RNA. For years, that guide RNA—meticulously designed, modified, and ...

A research team from the School of Biomedical Sciences at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), has achieved a significant advance in biotechnology that could ...