Every living organism falls into one of two groups: eukaryotes or prokaryotes, with cellular structure determining which group an organism belongs to. Prokaryotes are unicellular and lack a nucleus ...

Why have bacteria never evolved complex multicellularity? A new hypothesis suggests that it could come down to how prokaryotic genomes respond to a small population size. Every organism visible to the ...

Flagella are primarily used for cell movement and are found in prokaryotes as well as some eukaryotes. The prokaryotic flagellum spins, creating forward movement by a corkscrew shaped filament. A ...

Eukaryotes—fungi, plants, us—are complex. Our large cells are characterized by their different compartments, many of which are neatly enclosed within a boundary of membrane. These compartments contain ...

Deep in hydrothermal vents beneath the Arctic Ocean, scientists have discovered an organism that sheds fresh light on the evolutionary link between simple and complex cellular life. The microbe and ...

DNA methylation refers to the process of adding a methyl group to specific regions of DNA. This process can bring about changes in the activity of DNA without changing the sequence of nucleotides.

Last month, many microbiologists were surprised to find that the familiar names and nomenclature for the bacteria and archaea they study had been rewritten, seemingly overnight. On December 10, the ...

The world’s oceans are home to microscopic organisms invisible to the human eye. The tiny creatures, known as “prokaryotes”, comprise 30% of life in the world’s oceans. These organisms play an ...

Researchers have revealed new details about the CRISPR-Cas5-HNH/Cascade complex, a variant of the type I-E CRISPR-Cas system, providing insights into its DNA recognition and cleavage mechanisms. The ...