Watching molecular machines at work
Friday, August 12, 2016 - 08:01
in Biology & Nature
When one cell divides into two, the newly born daughter cells have to be equipped with everything they will need in their tiny lives. Most important of all is that they inherit a complete copy of the genetic information from their mother cell. If this is not the case because a wrong number of chromosomes gets passed on during cell division, the daughter cells will often not survive, or worse, contribute to the development of diseases such as cancer or other conditions. Segregating chromosomes correctly is therefore of great importance and cells use complex molecules to carry out this process. How one of these "molecular machines" works has now been elucidated by researchers.
