Trying to hit a target size before dividing seems like the best strategy for maintaining a precise cell size, but bacteria don't do that. Now we know why. When a single bacterial cell divides into two ...

The story of the cell cycle is often told only through the perspective of the chromosomes as they replicate and then divide. This resource beautifully illustrates the role of the cytoskeleton in that ...

Animals and fungi predominantly use two different modes of cell division -- called open and closed mitosis, respectively. A new study has shown that different species of Ichthyosporea -- marine ...

Scientists have uncovered a new way embryonic cells divide when conventional mechanisms fail. Cell division underpins all ...

Until now, cells dividing by mitosis were thought to grow round and then split into two identical, spherical daughter cells. New research has found that some cells are isomorphic, meaning they retain ...

When we talk about memories in biology, we tend to focus on the brain and the storage of information in neurons. But there are lots of other memories that persist within our cells. Cells remember ...

We still do not understand exactly how antibiotics kill bacteria. However, this understanding is necessary if we want to develop new antibiotics. And that is precisely what is urgently needed, because ...

Timelapse of a gene-edited medaka fish embryo undergoing mitosis. The mitotic spindle – the green strands in the middle of the cells – can be seen aligning and segregating duplicated chromosomes, ...

The beginning of life is shrouded in mystery. While the intricate dynamics of mitosis is well-studied in the so-called somatic cells – the cells that have a specialized function, like skin and muscle ...

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 ...