A recent Science paper described an extremely strange antiphage reverse transcriptase system, DRT3. DRT3 is made up of two RT-like proteins, DRT3a and DRT3b, and a non-coding RNA. These assemble into a large ribonucleoprotein complex with six copies of each component. Functionally, the two RTs make opposite strands of an alternating dinucleotide DNA repeat. DRT3a … Continue reading DRT3 and the Creativity of Molecular Biology
Since the very beginning of life, organisms have needed a way to store and pass on information. Current knowledge suggests that the first form of genetic information was stored in ribonucleic acid (RNA). Over time, life invented DNA, a chemically more stable molecule, for long-term information storage and faithful inheritance across generations. This genetic information … Continue reading DNA Replication and Convergent Evolution: How Life Reinvented a Core Process
You probably had a common cold sometime in the last three months. Surely, you wondered which of your close contacts was the origin of the infection. I will give an answer, but I will start from the very beginning. In this article, I will discuss the evolution of viruses and how it differs from that … Continue reading Viruses: The Ultimate Genetic Engineers
RNA Stuff 