Human cells have two copies of each chromosome, and this balance is essential for genes to be expressed in the appropriate ...

When you think of a chromosome, you might imagine an X-shaped structure. But chromosomes take this shape only during cell division; the rest of the time, they adopt a structure that looks amorphous ...

Researchers discovered that a long-misunderstood protein plays a key role in helping chromosomes latch onto the right “tracks” during cell division. Instead of acting like a motor, it works more like ...

Among the many marvels of life is the cell's ability to divide and thus enable organisms to grow and renew themselves. For this, the cell must duplicate its DNA—its genome—and segregate it equally ...

Scientists have discovered a kind of division that allows cells to use the information encoded in their shape to direct what kinds of cells their offspring become. This could help us develop ways of ...

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center and the University of Oxford have found that a cellular housekeeping function called autophagy—by which cell components are broken down and recycled—plays a ...

It's long been assumed that when a parent cell divides into two daughter cells, the parent assumes a spherical shape, which then splits into two cells that have roughly the same, round size. But a new ...

Researchers created artificial kinetochore structures that reduce chromosome separation errors during meiosis in aging egg cells. By lowering microtubule pulling force, the approach helped maintain ...