The human genome, an intricate tapestry of genetic information for life, has proven to be a treasure trove of strange features. Among them are segments of DNA that can "jump around" and move within ...

Ancient viruses are embedded everywhere in the human genome. Estimates range, but it's thought that about eight percent of the human genome could be made up of these ancient retroviruses, which are ...

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic’s Genome Center outlined the pathway human herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV1) can use to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease in aging brains. In a report published in ...

Heterochromatin, sometimes known as the “dark side of the genome,” is a poorly studied fraction of DNA that makes up about half of our genetic material. For more than 50 years scientists have puzzled ...

This schematic illustrates how transposable elements, derived from functional RNAs or retroviruses, shape the human genome and act as regulatory DNA elements. It highlights their essential roles in ...

To understand how organisms are related, researchers use molecular information to construct phylogenetic trees. Most of the time, scientists use thousands of protein-coding sequences to determine ...

"Even just increased expression of these elements can affect the expression of nearby genes, as we show in our new paper," adds Sepulveda. "Abundant expression of transposable elements is a signature ...

Viruses insert “transposable elements” into the genetic material of host cells to replicate. While cells’ defense mechanisms have learned to silence most of these viral insertions, a few “jumping ...