Modern humans descended from not one, but at least two ancestral populations that drifted apart and later reconnected, long before modern humans spread across the globe. Using advanced analysis based on full genome sequences, researchers from the ...

DNA's double helix has long stood as the symbol of life’s code. But buried within the genome lies a deeper level of complexity. One of the more intriguing discoveries in recent years is the i-motif—a twisted, four-stranded DNA shape that forms when ...

DNA doesn’t just sit still inside our cells — it folds, loops, and rearranges in ways that shape how genes behave. Researchers have now mapped this hidden architecture in unprecedented detail, showing how genome structure changes from cell to cell and ...

Human DNA constantly refolds in 3D space, and these looping dynamics regulate gene expression and cell identity.

The human genome has to be carefully organized so it will fit inside of the nuclei of cells, while also remaining accessible to the cellular machinery that works to express the right genes at the right times. Gene expression must be tightly regulated to ...

For decades, scientists believed a fertilized egg’s DNA began as a shapeless mass, only organizing itself once the embryo switched on its genes. But new research reveals that the genome is already carefully arranged in three dimensions long before that critical activation step,

Structural variants (SVs) are alterations in the DNA sequence that involve large-scale changes, typically longer than 50 base pairs. Advances in long-read sequencing have significantly increased sensitivity to detect SVs and were critical to assembling the ...

DNA might be too small to see with the unaided eye, but it packs our cells in shocking quantities: More than six and a half feet of DNA lies within every cellular nucleus. It squeezes into such a tight space by folding into a protein-rich structure called ...