

RNAs Galore - dnetesn
http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/spring-2015/rnas-galore

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qCOVET
If you wish to learn a bit more ..

Consider the DNA to be the basic hardware of life ... there has to be software
layers that control how, when, where and how much information is to be decoded
from the DNA. One layer of abstraction is epigenetics - DNA strands being
modified by various (ex. methyl) groups, that regulate how the information is
copied. Depending on where these methyl groups are on the gene, copying of DNA
will greatly vary.

To add another layer of abstraction, scientists are discovering the importance
of RNAs .. in particular small or micro RNAs in regulating how, when, where
information is decoded from the DNA. These tiny RNA molecules travel and
impact regions of the DNA that was previously considered barren wastelands or
vestiges of our evolutionary past.

To study them, it is a very tough undertaking. They are easily degraded and
also, they are expressed at various time points. So imagine, you try to
collect all RNA from cells during the day .. but what about the ones that are
expressed at night that regulate the circadien clock? Or what if you collect
it at a time when cells are undergoing division and you miss on the RNAs that
are responsible for suppressing cell division ..

Furthermore, how much of an RNA present in the cell, adds additional
complications. How do you quantify how much at what time ... (for science
geeks: qRT and northern is a good estimate :)

Furthermore x2, an RNA that can be positively regulating one region in the DNA
(aka gene :) .. might be negatively regulating another region.

Hopefully with the current research, it would be much easier to get a very
detailed catalog of all RNA molecules and over time, build a comprehensive
tool kit to better treat genetic diseases.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Consider the DNA to be the basic hardware of life ... there has to be
> software layers that control how, when, where and how much information is to
> be decoded from the DNA.

That analogy seems kind of backwards from the usual and more natural
formulation: DNA _is_ the software (or, rather, the DNA is a storage medium,
the information encoded by the base-pair sequences in the DNA is the software
-- RNA is another such storage medium), the various bits of biological
machinery that take action based on the DNA/RNA coding are the hardware on
which that software is run.

~~~
pazimzadeh
Terms like hardware and software are very limited when talking about biology
because it seems more like hardware nested inside software nested inside
hardware, forever and ever.

Here are some strong generalizations about the cell: DNA by itself does
nothing but store information. RNA is a transient store of information and can
also perform functions. Proteins primarily perform functions, yet embody the
most information about the cell's current live state. Each of these levels
runs on and are run by the two other levels.

