A plant named Virectaria stellata has genetic traits foreign to its family, challenging the classic rules of plant ...

Gene transfer agents (GTAs) are unique, phage‐like particles produced by various Alphaproteobacteria that mediate the horizontal transfer of genetic material. Unlike conventional bacteriophages, GTAs ...

New research shows that a large, ubiquitous mobile genetic element changes the antagonistic weaponry of Bacteroides fragilis, a common bacterium of the human gut. Bacteria evolve rapidly in the human ...

Plants are quietly borrowing tricks from bacteria, repurposing foreign genes to build complex molecules that look a lot like ...

Researchers at the University of California have created a novel data structure and compression method that allows ...

There are probably around 20,000 genes in the human genome that code for protein, and cells have to transcribe DNA sequences into RNA, which is then processed before it is translated into proteins by ...

Viruses living on plastic surfaces may help transfer antibiotic resistance genes among microbes in the environment.

Rare diseases, defined by FDA as “a disease or condition that affects less than 200,000 people in the United States” (1), may ...

Bacteria evolve rapidly in the human gut by sharing genetic elements with each other. Bacteriodales is a prolific order of gut bacteria that trade hundreds of genetic elements. Little is known, ...