183 papers
Molecular biology explores the tiny machinery inside living cells, revealing how genetic instructions are read, copied, and turned into the proteins that keep us alive. This field acts as a bridge between the static code of DNA and the dynamic processes that drive growth, disease, and life itself, offering insights into everything from cellular repair to the development of new medicines.
On Gist.Science, we track every new preprint uploaded to bioRxiv in this category to make these complex discoveries accessible to everyone. Our team processes each submission to provide both clear, plain-language explanations and detailed technical summaries, ensuring you can grasp the core findings without getting lost in dense academic jargon.
Below are the latest molecular biology papers freshly processed from bioRxiv, ready for you to explore and understand.
This study demonstrates that in basal-like triple-negative breast cancer, the dose-dependent regulation of m6A by METTL3 critically controls cellular proliferation and protein synthesis, where partial loss of METTL3 paradoxically enhances translation and growth while strong inhibition suppresses them.
This study demonstrates that dietary lipids derived from a genetically engineered long-lived yeast strain extend the lifespan of *Drosophila* by restoring gut integrity and triggering systemic metabolic remodeling that enhances epithelial function, optimizes brain energy signaling, and strengthens gut-brain communication.
The study identifies the host methyltransferase PCIF1 as a critical factor that catalyzes m6Am methylation on the SARS-CoV-2 RNA cap, a modification essential for efficient viral replication and pathogenicity.
The paper introduces NaP-TRAP, a versatile and accessible reporter-based workflow that utilizes epitope-tagged nascent peptide immunoprecipitation to simultaneously and quantitatively dissect the contributions of cis-regulatory elements to mRNA translation and stability across diverse biological contexts.
This study employs a multi-objective engineering strategy to enhance the thermostability and cofactor flexibility of trimethylamine monooxygenase, successfully identifying variants with improved heat-resistant NADPH activity while revealing the persistent challenge of maintaining NADH function under thermal stress.
This study demonstrates that repurposed small-molecule inhibitors targeting metalloproteinases and phospholipases effectively neutralize a diverse range of venoms from the Neotropical *Bothrops* snake genus, suggesting their potential as valuable early interventions for snakebite treatment.
This study utilizes ITS2, COI, and COII molecular markers to reveal that the *Anopheles tessellatus* complex in Indonesia comprises three distinct genetic lineages across five islands with high haplotype diversity and potential speciation in specific populations, highlighting the need for further research to clarify its role in malaria transmission.
This study reveals that the performance of destabilized fluorescent reporters in *C. elegans* is critically dependent on the specific combination of fluorophore and epitope tag, demonstrating that certain configurations (such as a 3xFLAG adjacent to a PEST sequence or the use of mStayGold) can severely compromise the ability to detect dynamic gene expression oscillations.
This study presents RAStoERK, a comprehensive reference interaction atlas that maps the interactomes of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway components and their mutations to reveal paralog-specific roles, mutation-driven rewiring, and novel crosstalk with processes like mRNA metabolism and WNT signaling, thereby providing a foundational resource for understanding the pathway's integration into physiology and disease.
This study investigates the limitations of quantitative DNA metabarcoding by demonstrating that high variation in mitochondrial copy numbers and stable PCR amplification biases prevent accurate biomass estimation, ultimately revealing fundamental constraints and the need for new methodological approaches despite the development of a mathematical model to correct for these biases.