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Come explore the fascinating world of cellular RNA Molecules with Mount Holyoke College Biochemistry 330 students.

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RNA modification is “sno” problem for snoRNAs

Posted by Oliver Stockert            Today I am going to tell you about one of my favorite classes of RNAs. They are called small nucleolar RNAs (or snoRNAs). SnoRNAs are short, noncoding, and abundant in the nucleoli of eukaryotic organisms.  They have important roles within cells by associating with proteins, finding a specific mRNA, and modifying the mRNA with the help of the associated protein. There are two main types of snoRNAs that each have their own structure, function, and purpose. The two types are H/ACA box and C/D box snoRNAs. You may have heard of  sequence “boxes” in regards to proteins or RNA before; it just means a section of the sequence is genetically conserved to make snoRNAs function and bind with a high level of specificity. Figure 1 outlines the H/ACA boxes and the C/D boxes on each type of snoRNA. The boxes represent an important parts of the sequences that all C/D box or H/ACA box snoRNAs contain that helps them...
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The GlmS Riboswitch: A very unique addition to the catalytic RNA family!

The GlmS   Riboswitch: A very unique addition to the catalytic RNA family! Figure 1. Riboswitch folding! (People in White Coats) We have all heard at some point that our genetic information is encoded in our DNA. Perhaps you have also heard that RNA is transcribed from DNA, and that proteins are synthesized from the information carried by RNA. This is known as the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology. From the Central Dogma, one would think that RNA only serves as a messenger, relaying instructions from DNA to protein, but that is not the case! RNA molecules are capable of participating in a wide array of reactions! They can even perform catalysis—previously thought to be exclusively performed by proteins. These catalytic RNA molecules have been dubbed “ribozymes.” Another interesting set of RNA molecules are the riboswitches. Riboswitches regulate gene expression. They are found in the sequence immediately prior to the gene that they regulated, and, ...
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“Endless RNAs” open up new therapeutic potentials

     RNAs are known to be unstable and easily degradable, as they are single-stranded and contain ribose, which is more easily hydrolyzed than the DNA sugar base deoxyribose. However, this commonly known idea is now challenged by one subtype called circular RNA (circRNA).       Although circRNAs were considered “useless” because they are part of the non-coding regions, researchers discovered the connection between untranslated regions (UTR) and gene expression regulations during the past decade and opened up therapeutic potentials of circRNA in human diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and digestive tract tumors 1 .       Start-up biopharmaceutical companies, such as Laronde 2 and oRNA 3 , are marketing circRNAs as an “endless RNA” sequence or highlighting its ring structure, to emphasize on the revolutionary therapeutic potential that comes from its stability and many other characteristics.  Figure 1. Screenshots ...
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