New study expands understanding of the role of RNA editing in gene control

For many years, scientists thought gene activity was relatively straightforward: Genes were transcribed into messenger RNA, which was processed and translated into the proteins of the body... [A] more nuanced understanding of the total genetic system has steadily accumulated... Most recently, scientists have discovered an extensive family of small molecules called microRNAs, or miRNAs, that appear to target and inactivate particular messenger RNAs. This targeted gene silencing is now seen as one of the body's primary strategies for regulating its genome.

Twin Molecular Scissors Link Creation of MicroRNAs with Gene-Silencing
Wistar.org
Some investigators had theorized that the activity of RISC required ATP for energy. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is a molecule used to store and release energy for tasks throughout the body. "The work of RISC is being accomplished with no energy requirement whatsoever," Shiekhattar says. "All of the activity - the separation of the strands, the multiple cutting steps, everything - is being done in the absence of any energy use." Instead, he says, the different molecules involved have stronger and weaker affinities for each other that govern their stepwise associations and disassociations as the process unfolds.

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Ribosomes are like little independent cells within a cell. In fact, the cell contains many smaller cell-like bodies that appear to have banded together as a community and for division of labor. DNA gets most of the headlines, but the cell can do well enough without DNA once the cell is functional.

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