While the genome is the genetic material of an organism (containing DNA and genes), it isn’t the only component that controls cellular design. RNA (including both small and long RNA), like DNA, is a nucleic acid that is vital to life. One difference between DNA and RNA is that while DNA is often found as a paired double-strand, RNA is usually a single strand. Organisms use messenger RNA (mRNA) to convey information to cells.
Yohei Kirino, professor of molecular biology at Thomas Jefferson University’s Computational Medical Center, is currently researching the role of short RNA in cells.
"A lot of research has focused on the most famous short RNA - the microRNA. MicroRNA is powerful in that it can silence messenger RNA, essentially diverting the production of certain cellular elements encoded by the genome, and we can study them with established methods. We wanted to know what these other, more difficult to capture short RNA were doing in the cell. Our study begins to answer that question," said Kirino.
Kirino studied a subtype of RNA called cyclic phosphate-containing RNA (cP-RNA). While cP-RNA was known, previous research suggested it wasn’t very important, and rather, an intermediate form of RNA. cP-RNA is hard to study because of its shape, as it has a cyclic phosphate tail. Three years ago, Kirino developed a way of targeting and amplifying cP-RNAs in mice, which, according to him, was the “first complete sequencing data for this RNA subtype.”
When sequencing this RNA subtype, Kirino and his team encountered several unexpected results. First, they found far more cP-RNA than they originally thought, and they found that transfer RNAs, messenger RNAs, and ribosomal RNAs had been generated from these cP-RNAs. This suggests that cP-RNAs could play an important role in the function of RNA.
The researchers also found cp-RNAs throughout the tissues of the subject mice, including in the lungs, muscles, spleen and thymus. As they studied the mice over time, the researchers discovered that the number of cP-RNA molecules in the mice decreased, suggesting that this subtype of RNA could play an important role in the aging process of the body.
“We still have more questions about these molecules than we have answers, but given their abundance, how ubiquitous they are in tissues throughout the body, and that their numbers change as tissues age, we know that this is an area that needs further exploration," said Kirino.
For more information