Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

On Repeat
25 May 2014

On Repeat

Our DNA is packaged up in long strings called chromosomes. Along these lengths are certain areas that are more fragile than others – like frayed points along a piece of string – that are prone to breaking. And broken chromosomes can cause big problems. Some of these fragile sites are due to short stretches of DNA being repeated many times over, which can be passed on through families. Now researchers have found a new region of repeated DNA close to a gene called Aff3. The gene is normally active in the developing paws, highlighted pink in this mouse embryo, and also in parts of the brain. But it gets shut down when the nearby DNA region is repeated. In humans, this region is associated with problems with language and movement, so understanding what's going on at a genetic level is helping to shed light on families affected by these conditions.

Written by Kat Arney

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.