Gene

A gene is a unit of heredity in a living organism. It normally resides on a stretch of DNA that codes for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. All living things depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains.

What are Genes?

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the chemical information database that carries the complete set of instructions for the cell as to the nature of the proteins produced by it, its life span, maturity, function and death. Genes are the working subunits of DNA. Each gene contains a particular set of instructions, usually coding for a particular protein or for a particular function.

Conditional Gene Knockout Techniques

Functions of BRCA1/2 Gene Products

Genetics and Gene Expression

Horizontal Gene Transfer

Horizontal Gene Transfer and Antibiotic Resistance

The Latest Advances in Cell and Gene Therapy

What are Homeobox Genes?

Genetic Inheritance

What is SATI Gene Editing?

Gene Editing Techniques: ZFNs, TALENs or CRISPR?

Gene History

See more featured articles »

What are Homeobox Genes?

Ras Genes and Cancer

Genes that Control Pluripotency

Gene Knockout versus Knockdown

Gene Knockin

Tumor Suppressor Genes

Latest Gene News and Research

New combination treatment helps people with recurring grade 3 astrocytoma, trial shows

Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) participated in a clinical trial that found that a new combination treatment plan helped people with recurring grade 3 astrocytoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, live longer.

5 Dec 2025

Study provides first molecular evidence that ferroptosis can drive neurodegeneration

Researchers at Helmholtz Munich, the Technical University of Munich and the LMU University Hospital Munich uncovered a mechanism that protects nerve cells from premature cell death, known as ferroptosis.

4 Dec 2025

Bacterial enzyme linked to heart complications in pneumonia

Pneumonia is a disease that burdens the healthcare system with more that 1.2 million emergency room visits each year and more than 41,000 adult deaths in the United States.

4 Dec 2025

Engineered herpes virus activates potent immune responses against glioblastoma

Researchers at Mass General Brigham have modified a herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) that stimulates the immune system to attack glioblastoma cells.

4 Dec 2025

Urine cfDNA patterns emerge as a promising tool for diagnosing bladder cancer

Researchers have discovered that analyzing specific patterns of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation in a simple urine sample can effectively diagnose and stage bladder cancer, offering a much-needed alternative to invasive procedures like cystoscopies.

4 Dec 2025

Early pregnancy placenta models show significant effects from PFAS exposure

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of nearly 10,000 long-lasting chemical compounds that stay in the environment and have been linked to adverse health effects on humans, including pregnant women and their unborn children.

4 Dec 2025

Why soybean oil may fuel weight gain

Researchers investigate how soybean oil may disrupt fat metabolism to potentially increase the risk of obesity.

4 Dec 2025

Retinal organoids provide a powerful tool to diagnose and study Leber congenital amaurosis

Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) is an inherited retinal disease leading to severe vision impairment from early infancy, affecting 2-3 out of every 100,000 newborns. LCA is caused by variants in certain genes from which proteins essential for retinal cell function and survival are made.

3 Dec 2025

Experimental RNA drug shows promise for repairing DNA and healing tissue damage

Cedars-Sinai scientists have developed an experimental drug that repairs DNA and serves as a prototype for a new class of medications that fix tissue damage caused by heart attack, inflammatory disease or other conditions.

3 Dec 2025

Human gene maps show widespread gaps in non-European representation

Human gene maps contain major blind spots because they were built largely from the DNA sequences of people with European ancestry, according to a study published today in Nature Communications.

3 Dec 2025

A personalized approach to treating pancreatic cancer

It's not surprising that pancreatic cancer is often referred to as a silent killer. With few early symptoms and an aggressive nature, it has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers.

3 Dec 2025

Hidden cellular layers in the hippocampus' CA1 region revealed

Researchers at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have identified a previously unknown pattern of organization in one of the brain's most important areas for learning and memory.

3 Dec 2025

AI model ranks genetic variants from severe to mild disease mutations

popEVE combines evolutionary insights with human population data to identify damaging genetic mutations, improving variant scoring for rare diseases.

3 Dec 2025

New method reveals how human cells initiate DNA replication

When cells proliferate, genomic DNA is precisely duplicated once per cell cycle. Abnormalities in this DNA replication process can cause alterations in genomic DNA, promoting cellular ageing, cancer, and genetic disorders. Therefore, understanding how cells replicate their DNA is crucial for elucidating fundamental biological processes, diseases, and even evolution.

3 Dec 2025

DNA language model performance hinges on pre-training data choices

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have performed a comprehensive evaluation of five artificial intelligence (AI) models trained on genomic sequences, known as DNA foundation language models.

3 Dec 2025

Gene variant linked to higher risk of chronic rejection after lung transplant

About one third of lung transplant recipients have a genetic variant that makes them more likely to develop chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), the primary cause of mortality after lung transplantation.

2 Dec 2025

Rice researchers develop resettable serum markers for clearer brain activity signals

Tracking how genes switch on and off in the brain is essential for understanding many neurological diseases, yet the tools to monitor this activity are often invasive or unable to capture subtler changes over time.

2 Dec 2025

Common water pill may be a useful add‑on to the standard HIV treatment

An FDA‑approved medication called spironolactone, often prescribed as a diuretic, or water pill, for heart and blood pressure conditions, may be a useful add‑on to the standard HIV treatment, according to new research from the Valente lab at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology.

2 Dec 2025

AI-assisted liquid biopsies show promise for early cancer detection

The prospect of diagnosing cancer through painless methods—such as a simple AI-assisted blood or urine test that detects tiny particles known as exosomes—is becoming increasingly realistic.

2 Dec 2025

Cocktail of three supplements improves social behaviors in autistic mice

Researchers led by Tzyy-Nan Huang and Ming-Hui Lin from Academia Sinica in Taiwan report that a low-dose mixture of zinc, serine, and branch-chain amino acids can alleviate behavioral deficits in three different mouse models of autism.

2 Dec 2025