The tools, called a DNA ladders, can gauge DNA fragments ranging from about 50 to 5,000 base pairs in length. Skip to main content. Your source for the latest research news.

DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, resembles a long, spiraling ladder. It consists of just a few kinds of atoms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

But to teams like Reif’s and Yan’s, DNA is more than a carrier of genetic information -- it’s source code and construction material. There are four “letters,” or bases, in the genetic code of DNA, ...

Fifty-nine years after James Watson and Francis Crick deduced the double-helix structure of DNA, a scientist has captured the first direct photograph of the twisted ladder that props up life.

New, license-free DNA ladders will allow researchers to estimate the size of fragments of DNA for a fraction of the cost of currently available methods. A research team of undergraduate students ...

Additionally, unlike many currently available DNA ladders, the 100-base-pair ladders work appropriately on both agarose and polyacrylamide gels, two types commonly used in molecular biology. Figure 2: ...