How plants make copies of themselves – key gene identified in model plant
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-Jun-2026 20:15 ET (2-Jun-2026 00:15 GMT/UTC)
A Hiroshima-University-led research team has discovered a key gene responsible for the initiation of gemma development, acting as a "master switch" to start asexual reproduction (cloning) in the model plant Marchantia polymorpha (common liverwort).
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a key enzyme – RNase H2 – that helps triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells survive high levels of DNA replication stress. Because many breast cancer therapies work by causing replication stress, these results suggest RNase H2 is a promising treatment target.
For the first time, MIT researchers measured the dynamics of chromatin movement over an extended period of time, ranging from the scale of microseconds to hours. The findings offer insight into how gene expression is regulated, as well as how chromatin segments come together for other processes such as DNA repair.
People with obesity face a significantly increased risk of atherosclerosis, and consequently heart attack and stroke. This elevated risk is largely driven by chronic inflammation in the blood vessels, which is more common in severe obesity. A new study led by Florian Kiefer at the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, MedUni Vienna, has now identified brown adipose tissue (brown fat) as a potential protective factor for vascular health. The findings, published in Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, show for the first time in humans that individuals with obesity and active brown fat exhibit significantly lower arterial inflammation.
Blood tests measuring the aging of certain white blood cells can predict cognitive and mood-related symptoms of depression, rather than physical symptoms.
The findings, published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, bring researchers closer to identifying a biomarker for detecting the mood disorder, which affects nearly one in five US adults.
For decades, scientists have wondered what triggered the sudden "explosion" of complex animal life on Earth. This new hypothesis suggests that the answer isn't found in shells or legs, but in the evolution of the brain as a response to an increasingly crowded and tiered ocean. By developing the genetic "blueprints" to organize a complex nervous system first, a few lucky lineages were able to recycle those same instructions to build the most diverse and sophisticated bodies in nature.