Transcription

Our genetic heritage is not a blueprint or an algorithm, as many biologists have imagined, but something else entirely.

RNA and peptides coevolving in the primordial world might have jointly served as a precursor to the modern ribosome.

Life could use a more expansive genetic code in theory, but new work shows that improving on three-letter codons would be a challenge.

Preserving its DNA ought to be a cell’s top priority. But bacteria slow their DNA repair to a crawl in favor of proofreading gene transcripts.