230 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 develops and validates a highly sensitive and specific environmental DNA assay for monitoring the critically endangered sunflower sea star (*Pycnopodia helianthoides*), demonstrating its ability to accurately track population biomass and support conservation efforts following a catastrophic disease-driven decline.
This study combines experimental and theoretical approaches to quantitatively map the regulatory architecture, including transcription factor binding sites and environmental dependencies, of over 100 uncharacterized *E. coli* genes across 39 diverse conditions, thereby illuminating the functions of the "y-ome" and other poorly understood genetic elements.
This study identifies a novel mechanism where the enzyme KDM4A catalyzes the C-terminal dipeptide truncation of histone H2AX, effectively acting as a master switch that represses the canonical DNA damage response by preventing {gamma}H2AX formation and disrupting the correlation between histone signaling and DNA damage.
This study presents an optimized workflow using a novel pepsin-based digestion protocol (XTO) to successfully adapt the Xenium automated in situ sequencing platform for PAXgene-fixed tissues, demonstrating that these samples can achieve spatial RNA transcript detection comparable to or superior to standard FFPE samples while preserving tissue morphology.
This study utilizes confocal microscopy and fluorescently tagged VP40 mutants to characterize the subcellular distribution and trafficking pathways of the Ebola virus matrix protein, revealing how membrane-binding-dependent aggregation and interactions with host secretory machinery drive the assembly of the viral matrix layer.
The paper introduces LowDoseWizard, a modular and guided workflow within SerialEM that significantly reduces the time and expertise required to standardize low-dose cryo-TEM microscope setup, enabling rapid configuration that supports high-resolution single-particle data collection.
This study identifies cationic peptides derived from the HPV16 L1 capsid protein as highly efficient cell-penetrating agents capable of delivering cargo into cells via heparan sulfate-mediated endocytosis and exhibiting potent antiviral activity against high-risk HPV types by blocking viral entry.
This study demonstrates that using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to knock out the β-D-N-acetylhexosaminidase (β-hex) gene in tomato plants successfully extends fruit shelf life and firmness without compromising quality or introducing transgenic elements.
This paper proposes and provides evidence that linear developmental trajectories in cells are driven by and linked to concurrent epigenomic and transcriptomic oscillations, suggesting a fundamental mechanism for encoding molecular time and ensuring developmental robustness.
The study reveals that during bacterial infection, the caspase Dredd cleaves the autophagy receptor-bound IKK complex subunit Kenny to remove its LC3-interacting region, thereby uncoupling the complex from selective autophagy-mediated repression and enabling robust NF-κB-dependent innate immune responses.