Not all DNA looks like the familiar double helix. Sometimes, parts of our genetic code fold into unusual shapes under certain conditions. One such structure known as a G-quadruplex (G4) looks like a ...

Scientists from Delft, Vienna, and Lausanne discovered that the protein machines that shape our DNA can switch direction. Until now, researchers believed that these so-called SMC motors that make ...

The illustration shows DNA being folded into a loop by an SMC motor called cohesin (in purple/blue). The purple part of the motor (with a red/green label) is the protein subunit NIPBL, which acts as a ...