DNA can sustain serious injuries called double strand breaks, in which both strands of the helix snap. These breaks are among ...

The human genome consists of 3 billion base pairs, and when a cell divides, it takes about seven hours to complete making a copy of its DNA. That's almost 120,000 base pairs per second. At that ...

The DNA inside our cells is constantly being damaged, and one of the worst kinds of damage is a double-strand break—when both sides of the DNA helix are cut at once. Healthy cells can normally fix ...

Mitochondrial DNA has long been treated as a workhorse record of cellular history, but new research suggests it also hides a subtle and previously overlooked form of damage. By uncovering this cryptic ...

Following a double-strand DNA break, an enzyme called PARP1 helps hold the two strands together —like superglue— and creates a safe zone for other proteins to come repair the damage. We don’t exactly ...