The CRISPR technology commonly used for genome editing was originally based on bacterial defense mechanisms that arose to protect against bacteriophages, though their mode of activation has largely ...

Scientists have discovered a unique marine microbe, sukunaarchaeum, that defies traditional definitions of life.

The Evo 2 preprint described three design tasks that span different levels of genomic complexity: 1) mitochondrial genome 2) prokaryotic genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, a commonly used model of ...

Thanks to their mitochondria, they have energy to spare. The average eukaryote can support a genome that’s 200,000 times larger than that of a bacterium, and still devote a similar amount of energy to ...

An innovative programmable tool for targeting nucleic acids has been created, utilizing a prokaryotic immune defense system—and it is not CRISPR-Cas. Russian Academy of Sciences researchers have ...

Other approaches for prokaryote genome editing include the lambda Red system and the ClosTron method. Traditional microbial genomic editing techniques have proven to be slow and laborious.

The biggest distinction is that eukaryotic cells have a well-defined nucleus containing the cell’s DNA, while prokaryotic cells don’t; their DNA floats freely through the cell instead.

Several SARS-CoV-2 genome variants have also been developed, including the D614G variant, which first appeared earlier in the pandemic, and the more recent B.1.1.7 (Alpha) or B.1.617.2 (Delta ...