
A gene that keeps track of how often it’s made into a protein - shawndumas
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/a-gene-that-keeps-track-of-how-often-its-made-into-a-protein/
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nonbel
Misleading/incorrect title:

The use of "gene" made me expect a claim about some kind of DNA modification
after each transcription. This is about a claim that ribosomes may "pile up"
on mRNA after each translation.

EDIT:

This single sentence is a much better summary than the article:

"We propose [a] mechanism is used to count and limit the number of protein
molecules that can be synthesized from a single mRNA template.
[http://www.nature.com/articles/nature25174](http://www.nature.com/articles/nature25174)

So basically they propose there is a way to put an upper bound on number of
proteins that result from each individual mRNA.

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userbinator
I can't help but think this is going to lead into some sort of "biological
DRM" that companies like Monsanto are almost certainly going to love.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_legal_cases#As_defend...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_legal_cases#As_defendant)

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subcosmos
This is profoundly cool. I think the biotech applications of this might be
really huge.

