{"id":239219,"date":"2026-06-18T06:19:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/hidden-mitochondrial-genes-emerge-as-mealybugs-encode-two-genes-on-one-dna-stretch"},"modified":"2026-06-18T06:19:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:19:28","slug":"hidden-mitochondrial-genes-emerge-as-mealybugs-encode-two-genes-on-one-dna-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/hidden-mitochondrial-genes-emerge-as-mealybugs-encode-two-genes-on-one-dna-stretch","title":{"rendered":"Hidden mitochondrial genes emerge as mealybugs encode two genes on one DNA stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/hidden-mitochondrial-genes-emerge-as-mealybugs-encode-two-genes-on-one-dna-stretch.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What if a single sentence could carry two completely different meanings, one when read forward and another when read backward? In a new study, researchers at Arizona State University have discovered a biological version of this idea. Working with the mitochondria of a tiny insect called the citrus mealybug, the team found that the same stretch of DNA can carry two different genes\u2014sets of genetic instructions used by the cell\u2014with one encoded on each strand of the DNA\u2019s ladder-like structure.<\/p>\n<p>The finding expands scientists\u2019 understanding of how DNA can store genetic information and helps solve a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years. The findings are <a href=\"https:\/\/pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2534946123\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis kind of paper is what makes running a lab so fun. Born from a spark of individual brilliance\u2014not mine\u2014but accomplished as a collective effort,\u201d says John McCutcheon. \u201cThe idea that these two critically important genes could be mirrored on the same piece of DNA has been around a long time, and so it\u2019s a thrill to be part of the team that proved this speculative idea was, in fact, reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if a single sentence could carry two completely different meanings, one when read forward and another when read backward? In a new study, researchers at Arizona State University have discovered a biological version of this idea. Working with the mitochondria of a tiny insect called the citrus mealybug, the team found that the same [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,412],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-genetics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}