Short RNA molecules mapped in single cell
When information in our genes is used, for example to build a protein, it is first translated to messenger-RNA which functions as a blueprint for the protein. Our cells also contain non-coding, short, RNA sequences that do not contribute to the formation of proteins and whose functions are partly unknown. The best known of these is micro RNA (miRNAs), which can interact with the messenger RNA, and thereby regulate genes and cell function. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now mapped the presence of short RNA-sequences in an individual cell. Previous research on short RNA molecules is based on analysis of many cells simultaneously, making it difficult to study the precise function. "Our knowledge of the function of short RNA molecules is quite general. We have a picture of the general mechanisms, but it is less clear what specific role these molecules play in different types of cells or diseases," says Rickard Sandberg, professor at the Department of Cell and Mol...