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Nicole Rust /
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2024-10-07 22:12:16

Nicole Rust on Nostr: Nobel prize today: what’s it about? I’m a molecular biology undergrad and I teach ...

Nobel prize today: what’s it about?

I’m a molecular biology undergrad and I teach Intro to Neuroscience; I was still left scratching my head a bit until I read this npub1ns6mljh9xlqs7uv7vk9exry2talppdu8sl6arf3s5qrph4ec2vnq34r3ns (npub1ns6…r3ns) piece by Philip Ball: (so much better than nobelprize.org):

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/revolutionary-genetics-research-shows-rna-may-rule-our-genome/

TL;DR: 1-2% of our DNA is translated to proteins (1950s: DNA>RNA>protein). But !!75%!! of DNA>RNA (2012). What's all that RNA that doesn't become protein doing? A lot regulates genetic expression. Like the microRNAs lin-4 and let-7 in the worm C elegans, w/ homologies in vertebrates (the big discovery for which the prize was awarded).

Today: 2000 ­miRNAs have been ID'd in the human genome. THIS is the why behind the Nobel Prize. miRNAs may work in combinations, providing "evolutionary fluidity" (read: nonlinear interaction terms). Exciting!!!

Curious to know more? Read Philip Ball’s new book:

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo207403562.html
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