Hidden mitochondrial genes emerge as mealybugs encode two genes on one DNA stretch

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—sets of genetic instructions used by the cell—with one encoded on each strand of the DNA's ladder-like structure.