Question

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I post this question twice, please don't answer this post if you already answer the other one, if you can answer different answer that's fine. REASON WHY I POST IT TWICE, I NEED TWO DIFFERENT VIEW.

Discussion

Hi All - this week you will learn about DNA - the molecule of life! You may think that protein-coding genes are the most important, but results from the Human Genome Project revealed that only about 2% of our DNA codes for protein - so what about the rest of the "junk DNA" (or non-protein coding portion of the genome) - is it functionally important? Yes! Scientists are learning how "the non-protein-coding portion of the genome is of crucial functional importance: for normal development and physiology and for disease". I would like you to please choose a topic with regards to the non-protein coding portion of the genome (this will introduce you to gene regulation which we will cover in chapter 11) or you may also choose to write about a topic that describes a mutation in any protein that is involved in DNA replication, transcription, or translation (we did not talk about all of the enzymes involved in those processes). Please list your reputable source - this is worth 0.5 pt (even if you use one of my sources below) and tell me WHY you chose your topic (this is worth 1 pt.) please try to briefly explain your topic to the best of your knowledge - I don't expect you to write a lot of detail about your topic - it might be hard to understand (which you are welcome to comment on in your paragraph)!

Examples to choose from (but not limited to) include: noncoding RNAs (snRNAs, miRNAs, siRNAs, snoRNAs, piRNAs, lincRNAs) and RNA therapeutics:

LIST:

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4119351/ (Development of microRNA therapeutics is coming of age)

2. http://www.umassmed.edu/rti/ (RNA Therapeutics Institute)

3. http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligence/rna-based-therapeutics-and-vaccines/77900520/

4. http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/26/21/2361.full (Biology of PIWI-Interacting RNAs: new insights into biogenesis and function inside and outside of germlines)

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4265212/ (PIWI proteins and their interactors in piRNA biogenesis, germline development and gene expression)

6. http://www.news-medical.net/news/20121203/microRNAs-play-an-important-role-during-embryonic-development.aspx

7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4578617/ (the role of microRNAs in cell fate determination)

8. http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/01/13/scientists-reprogram-embryonic-stem-cells-to-expand-their-potential/

9. http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40871/title/The-Second-Coming-of-RNAi/

10. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/cardiac-development-needs-more-than-protein-coding-genes-0124.html (long non-coding RNA molecules)

11. http://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/new-role-micrornas-torpedoes-sink-neurons(microRNAs)

12. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/rothmund-thomson-syndrome (mutation in human helicase gene)

13. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633371/ (mutation in mitochondrial helicase gene called TWINKLE)

14. http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2013/in-autism-related-disorders-rna-turns-out-to-be-key (RNA topoisomerase)

15. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/TERC (dyskeratosis congenita - mutations in the TERC gene - the RNA component of telomerase)

16. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3853347/ (Top3beta is an RNA topoisomerase that works with Fragile X syndrome protein to promote synapse formation)

The following 3 articles discuss long non-coding RNAs - there are many examples in each article so you only need to talk about one example - not the whole article:

1. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468054016300063 (mechanism of action and functional utility)

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5084630/ (dysregulated expression in ovarian cancer)

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4736767/ (stem cells)

Answer 1

It has been evidenced that the non-coding sequences of DNA upregulate or down regulate the coding genes e.g it has been found after a set of experiments that RNA trancribed by a portion of this DNA appears to stimulate stem cells to transform into heart cells during mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation; the researchers suspect that lncRNAs may control this process in humans as well.

Most non-coding RNAs (also known as lncRNAs) are Pol II transcripts which have a poly-A tail and 5′ cap. But compared to protein-coding genes, lncRNAs show lower evolutionary conservation and lower expression level. LncRNAs are predominantly localized in nucleus. LncRNAs have been associated with significant roles in diverse biological events such as chromatin modifications, transcriptional regulation, and posttranscriptional regulation.

Some of the non-coding RNAs, also act as RNAi or interfering RNA. RNAi can prevent the proteins actually driving an illness from being translated, which avoids the need to attack the disease somewhere downstream in a molecular cascade, as small-molecule drugs and biologics often do. RNAi can provide greater target specificity than small molecules and inhibit the expression of proteins that lack the enzymatic pocket necessary for binding small-molecule drugs. RNAi can also target proteins that can’t be reached directly by monoclonal antibodies because of their intracellular location (Bender et al, 2014).