Ancient evidence suggests a new twist in how we all got here.

Life runs on instructions you never see. Every cell reads DNA, turns that message into RNA, and then builds proteins that ...

How does DNA determine an organism’s characteristics? A process called translation decodes RNA created during transcription, and uses it to create proteins that perform specific cellular functions.

Hidden within the genetic code lies the "triplet code," a series of three nucleotides that determine a single amino acid. How did scientists discover and unlock this amino acid code? Once the budding ...

Humans possess six forms of the protein actin, which perform essential functions in the body. Two in particular, β-actin and γ-actin, are nearly identical, only differing by four amino acids. Yet ...

LA JOLLA, CA - In recent years, scientists have engineered bacteria with expanded genetic codes that produce proteins made from a wider range of molecular building blocks, opening up a promising front ...

Membrane proteins play important roles in health and disease, but they are so hydrophobic that they require detergents to maintain their shape outside membranes. That makes them difficult to study.

Biochemists shed light on the evolution of our 20- amino acid toolbox. The genetic code of life depends mainly on 20 amino acids, which can be arranged in various combinations to form proteins. For ...

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) report in an upcoming article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society their synthesis of a form of the bacterium Escherichia coli with a ...

Amino acid metabolism is an important process that occurs within the human body to assist in numerous biological reactions. This article will cover the role of glutamate, transamination reactions, and ...