For successful cell division, chromosomal DNA needs to be packed into compact rod-shaped structures. Defects in this process can lead to cell death or diseases like cancer. A new study has shown how ...

Among the many marvels of life is the cell's ability to divide and thus enable organisms to grow and renew themselves. For this, the cell must duplicate its DNA—its genome—and segregate it equally ...

About 100 cells divide every second in our body. A key protein in cell division is a protein kinase termed Plk1, because it activates other proteins involved in this process. Plk1 is also ...

It's long been assumed that when a parent cell divides into two daughter cells, the parent assumes a spherical shape, which then splits into two cells that have roughly the same, round size. But a new ...

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center and the University of Oxford have found that a cellular housekeeping function called autophagy—by which cell components are broken down and recycled—plays a ...

Before a cell commits fully to the process of dividing itself into two new cells, it may ensure the appropriateness of its commitment by staying for many hours - sometimes more than a day - in a ...

Researchers have found a molecular mechanism that prevents multiplication of potentially dangerous cells by measuring the duration of mitosis. They have shown that this mechanism -- the Mitotic ...