MicroRNAs play a big part in gene regulation - and evolution
Regulating when and where certain proteins are made is crucial to the normal functioning of living things. To make proteins, information from DNA is transcribed into RNA molecules and then translated into the amino acids building blocks of proteins. But not all genes code for proteins--some make RNA molecules called microRNAs. These small RNA molecules interfere with--and therefore control--the p...Molecular steps involved in the creation of gene-silencing microRNAs identified
First discovered only a few brief years ago, microRNAs are small, remarkably powerful molecules that appear to play a pivotal role in gene silencing, one of the body's main strategies for regulating its genome. A scant 22 nucleotides in length, miRNAs appear to work by binding to and somehow interfering with messenger RNA, itself responsible for translating genes into proteins. But how do...Scientists find microRNAs regulate plant development
The plant hormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), commonly referred to as auxin, plays a major role in regulating plant growth and development. Auxin influences development by affecting the expression of numerous genes that control the processes of cell division and cell expansion in specific plant tissues at specific stages during the plant life cycle - e.g. for leaves, roots, and floral organs to d...MicroRNAs have shaped the evolution of the majority of mammalian genes
RNA continues to shed its reputation as DNA's faithful sidekick. Now, researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member David Bartel have found that a class of small RNAs called microRNAs influence the evolution of genes far more widely than previous research had indicated. "MicroRNAs are affecting the majority of protein-coding genes, either at a functional level or an evolutionary lev...Twin molecular scissors link creation of microRNAs with gene-silencing
One of the body's primary strategies for regulating its genome is a kind of targeted gene silencing orchestrated by small molecules called microRNAs, or miRNAs. First observed only a few years ago, these molecules appear to inactivate messenger RNA, itself responsible for translating genes into proteins. Scientists have been eager to know more about miRNAs, clearly important players on the geneti...Role Of MicroRNAs In Angiogenesis Researched
According to recent research, MicroRNAs are fine targets for future therapies.Researchers belonging to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary //Medicine have demonstrated how microRNA molecules are responsible for the growth of blood vessels in a human colon cancer model. This process, known as angiogenesis, is a result of the ravenous cancer cells using blood vessels to gorge on a...MicroRNAs Can Be Tumor Suppressors
University of Virginia researchers have discovered that microRNAs, a form of genetic material, can function as tumor suppressors// in laboratory studies. In the May 1 issue of Genes & Development, UVa researchers Drs. Yong Sun Lee and Anindya Dutta have shown that microRNAs can suppress the overexpression of a gene called HMGA2. This gene is related to creation of fatty tissue and cer...