News tagged with rna
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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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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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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Study builds on plausible scenario for origin of life on Earth
A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored by a professor at the Un ...
Aug 09, 2011 |
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Scientists get glimpse of how the 'code' of life may have emerged
A portion of the "code" of life has been unraveled by a UC Santa Barbara graduate student from the town of Jojutla, Mexico.
Mar 23, 2011 |
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Molecular alternatives to DNA, RNA offer new insight into life's origins
Living systems owe their existence to a pair of information-carrying molecules: DNA and RNA. These fundamental chemical forms possess two features essential for life: they display heredity—meaning they can encode and ...
Apr 19, 2012 |
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Study of ribosome evolution challenges 'RNA World' hypothesis
In the beginning – of the ribosome, the cell's protein-building workbench – there were ribonucleic acids, the molecules we call RNA that today perform a host of vital functions in cells. And according ...
Mar 12, 2012 |
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'Good cholesterol' nanoparticles seek and destroy cancer cells
High-density lipoprotein's hauls excess cholesterol to the liver for disposal, but new research suggests "good cholesterol" can also act as a special delivery vehicle of destruction for cancer.
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Apr 01, 2011 |
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Nanoparticle-delivered RNA interference drug stops head and neck cancer growth
(Phys.org) -- A nanoparticle drug delivery vehicle for small interfering RNA molecules (siRNA), that is already being tested in human clinical trials, now shows promise for the treatment of head and neck cancer. Dong Shin, ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Apr 06, 2012 |
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We are not only eating 'materials', we are also eating 'information'
In a new study, Chen-Yu Zhang's group at Nanjing university present a rather striking finding that plant miRNAs could make into the host blood and tissues via the route of food-intake. Moreover, once inside the host, they ...
Sep 19, 2011 |
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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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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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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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Ticks linked to deadly virus discovered in China
(PhysOrg.com) -- Doctors have been aware for years that ticks can spread the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, but scientists in China have discovered a new deadly virus that is also carried by ticks ...
Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Mar 21, 2011 |
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3-D RNA modeling opens scientific doors
In a paper published today in the journal Nature Methods, a team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill demonstrates a simple, cost-effective technique for three-dimensional RNA structure predic ...
Apr 15, 2012 |
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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.
