30-Second Genetics by Jonathan Weitzman

Author:Jonathan Weitzman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ivy Press
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

NON-CODING RNA

the 30-second theory

RNA studies have been full of surprises. When Francis Crick proposed the central dogma of molecular biology to explain protein synthesis, he positioned RNA as a messenger (called mRNA) that was important for translating genetic information in the DNA into proteins. But in recent years we have discovered many groups of RNA molecules with several roles other than that of messenger. Indeed, the vast majority of human RNA molecules (maybe as much as 98 per cent) do not contain information for coding proteins, but are called non-coding RNA (ncRNA). So what do all these non-coding RNAs do? They seem to be important for fine regulation of the expression and the function of the coding RNA. For example, small RNAs called tRNA are important for translating the mRNA information and ribosomal RNAs are part of the big machine that makes proteins. Non-coding RNAs can be very short, like the RNAi molecules that interfere with normal gene functions. Or they can be very long, like the Xist molecule that can inactive the whole X chromosome in females or the RNAs that help cells to maintain their telomeres. All organisms, from simple yeast to humans, have evolved clever ways to use RNA molecules to regulate their genomes. Non-coding RNAs have also been linked to many diseases, such as cancer and autism.

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