Ebola: Scientists reveal a new way it replicates

Scientists in Canada and the U.S. have discovered a new way in which Ebola—an often deadly virus affecting people mostly in sub-Saharan Africa—reproduces in the body.

How does a bacterium know it's time to split apart?

Bacterial cells do not wake up one morning and decide to become parents. But there is a point in their cell cycle—after growing sufficiently and replicating their genomes—when they split in two, creating new cells that ...

New tool reveals gene behavior in bacteria

Bacterial infections cause millions of deaths each year, with the global threat made worse by the increasing resistance of the microbes to antibiotic treatments. This is due in part to the ability of bacteria to switch genes ...

Protein structures signal fresh targets for anticancer drugs

Cell replication in our bodies is triggered by a cascade of molecular signals transmitted between proteins. Compounds that block these signals when they run amok show potential as cancer drugs.

Dissecting the structural secrets of the inactive X chromosome

Cell biologists from RIKEN have provided an unprecedented glimpse into the distinctive features of an unusual chromosome—the inactivated X chromosome copy carried by every female cell. The findings are published in the ...

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Self-replication

Self-replication is any process by which a thing might make a copy of itself. Biological cells, given suitable environments, reproduce by cell division. During cell division, DNA is replicated and can be transmitted to offspring during reproduction. Biological viruses can reproduce, but only by commandeering the reproductive machinery of cells through a process of infection. Computer viruses reproduce using the hardware and software already present on computers.

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