R-loops are structures that form when a strand of RNA (red) forms a stable structure with double-stranded DNA, causing one strand of the DNA to form a loop. R-loops are associated with gene ...

This new review article highlights the pivotal and paradoxical role of R-loops in maintaining genomic stability while simultaneously posing risks to it. These three-stranded nucleic acid structures, ...

Genome instability can cause numerous diseases. Cells have effective DNA repair mechanisms at their disposal. A research team has now gained new insights into the DNA damage response. Whenever cells ...

Recently, the research team led by Wei Li and Chao Liu from Guangzhou Medical University Affiliated Women and Children's Medical Center, in collaboration with Fei Gao’s team from the Institute of ...

Not all DNA looks like the familiar double helix. Sometimes, parts of our genetic code fold into unusual shapes under certain conditions. One such structure known as a G-quadruplex (G4) looks like a ...

Scientists have created a live-cell DNA sensor that reveals how damage appears and disappears inside living cells, capturing the entire repair sequence as it unfolds. Instead of freezing cells at ...

While most known types of DNA damage are fixed by our cells’ in-house DNA repair mechanisms, some forms of DNA damage evade repair and can persist for many years, new research shows. This means that ...