RNA Might Be More Important Than Thought
Posted on: Monday, 2 July 2007, 12:15 CDT
A U.S. study suggests RNA -- a molecule thought to only be a messenger for DNA -- might play a much more important role in a cell's gene activity.
Researchers at the Stanford University Medical Center have found large, seemingly useless pieces of RNA let cells know where they are in the body and what they are supposed to become.
Recent research has shown small bits of RNA can silence individual genes by interfering with their expression, longer pieces, called non-coding RNAs, have been more perplexing.
Although ncRNAs have been shown to affect the expression of neighboring genes, the relative abundance of the molecules suggested they might have a wider role.
Now Stanford postdoctoral researcher John Rinn, Assistant Professor Dr. Howard Chang and colleagues have discovered ncRNAs can influence gene expression patterns at distant locations in the cell.
We were surprised to find that at least one of these molecules can suppress genes on a completely different chromosome, said Chang. This opens up the whole genome to potential regulation by ncRNAs.
The research is reported in the June 29 issue of the journal Cell.
Source: United Press International
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