In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional organisms that bridge the gap between Earth’s simplest cells and today’s complex ones.

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 ...

Prokaryotic cells, which include all bacteria and archaea, are ancient, and relatively simple compared to eukaryotic cells, which are found in fungi, plants, and animals. Scientists have long sought ...

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 ...

Prokaryotes are organisms whose cells lack a nucleus and other organelles. Prokaryotes are divided into two distinct groups: the bacteria and the archaea, which scientists believe have unique ...

A nucleus is one of many membrane-bound compartments that distinguishes our eukaryotic cells from the prokaryotic cells of microorganisms like bacteria. Eukaryotic cells also possess energy-producing ...

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 ...

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.

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 ...

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 ...