News tagged with rna
On early Earth, iron may have performed magnesium's RNA folding job
On the periodic table of the elements, iron and magnesium are far apart. But new evidence suggests that 3 billion years ago, iron did the chemical work now done by magnesium in helping RNA fold and function ...
May 31, 2012 |
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The cell's 'New World': First complete atlas of RNA-binding proteins
In one of the most famous faux pas of exploration, Columbus set sail for India and instead 'discovered' America. Similarly, when scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, set out ...
Jun 01, 2012 |
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Researchers solve structure of human protein critical for silencing genes
In a study published in the journal Cell on May 24, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists describe the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein bound to a piece of RNA that "guides" the pr ...
May 25, 2012 |
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Copy of the genetic makeup travels in a protein suitcase
Scientists from the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Bonn have succeeded for the first time in the real time filming of the transport of an important information carrier in biological ...
May 25, 2012 |
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New details about gene regulation explained
(Phys.org) -- When genetic information is read from the genetic blueprint DNA, RNA polymerase II translates it into RNA molecules. The C-terminal domain, abbreviated as CTD, is an important area of the polymerase ...
May 21, 2012 |
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RNA reactor could have served as a precursor of life
(PhysOrg.com) -- Nobody knows quite how life originated on Earth, but most scientists agree that living cells did not abruptly appear from nonliving cells in a single step. Instead, there were probably a series ...
Jul 11, 2011 |
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Researchers reveal an RNA modification influences thousands of genes
Over the past decade, research in the field of epigenetics has revealed that chemically modified bases are abundant components of the human genome and has forced us to abandon the notion we've had since high school genetics ...
May 17, 2012 |
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Research uncovers new exception to decades-old rule about RNA splicing
There are always exceptions to a rule, even one that has prevailed for more than three decades, as demonstrated by a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) study on RNA splicing, a cellular editing process. The rule-flaunting ...
May 17, 2012 |
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Enzyme corrects more than one million faults in DNA replication
Scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) at the University of Edinburgh have discovered an enzyme that corrects the most common mistake in mammalian DNA.
May 10, 2012 |
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Real-time monitoring of RNA splicing in living cells moves step closer with novel fluorescent probe
Numerous biological processes depend on molecules called lariat RNAs (LaRNAs). These lasso-shaped structures form in the cell during RNA splicing. During this process, transcribed RNA strands convert to messenger ...
May 24, 2012 |
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Simpler times: Did an earlier genetic molecule predate DNA and RNA?
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the chemistry of the living world, a pair of nucleic acids—DNA and RNA—reign supreme. As carrier molecules of the genetic code, they provide all organisms with a mechanism for ...
Jan 09, 2012 |
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Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...
Mar 30, 2012 |
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Research reveals novel transport mechanism for large ribonucleoproteins
The movement of genetic materials, such as RNA and ribosomes, from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is a critical component in a cell's ability to make the proteins necessary for essential biological functions. Until now, it ...
May 10, 2012 |
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Scientists observe single gene activity in living cells
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have for the first time observed the activity of a single gene in living cells. In an unprecedented study, published in the April 22 online edition ...
Apr 21, 2011 |
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Novel technique uses RNA interference to block inflammation
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers – along with collaborators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals – have found a way to block, in an animal model, the damaging ...
Oct 09, 2011 |
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RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate. RNA is very similar to DNA, but differs in a few important structural details: in the cell, RNA is usually single-stranded, while DNA is usually double-stranded; RNA nucleotides contain ribose while DNA contains deoxyribose (a type of ribose that lacks one oxygen atom); and RNA has the base uracil rather than thymine that is present in DNA.
RNA is transcribed from DNA by enzymes called RNA polymerases and is generally further processed by other enzymes. RNA is central to the synthesis of proteins. Here, a type of RNA called messenger RNA carries information from DNA to structures called ribosomes. These ribosomes are made from proteins and ribosomal RNAs, which come together to form a molecular machine that can read messenger RNAs and translate the information they carry into proteins. There are many RNAs with other roles – in particular regulating which genes are expressed, but also as the genomes of most viruses.
For more information about RNA, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
