Yale Researchers Find New RNA Structures

Science Daily is reporting that researchers from Yale have discovered "very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells or allowing genes to 'jump' to different parts of the chromosome." Ronald Breaker, professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale, stated that this would be equivalent to protein scientists finding a whole new class of enzymes. "The Breaker laboratory has used the explosion of DNA sequence information and new computer programs to discover six of the top twelve largest bacterial RNAs just in the last several years. One of the newly discovered RNAs, called GOLLD, is the third largest and most complex RNA discovered to date, and appears to be used by viruses that infect bacteria. Another large RNA revealed in the study, called HEARO, has a genetic structure that suggests it is part of a type of 'jumping gene' that can move to new locations in the bacterial chromosome."

Comments

Curious choice of analogies

[Red Flayer]

Ronald Breaker, professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale stated that this would be equivalent to protein scientists finding a whole new class of enzymes.

Thanks. That enzyme analogy is really helpful to people in the bio research field.

But this is slashdot. We expect more from our analogists. Specifically, we expect a car analogy (no, a pizza analogy does not suffice).

Perhaps discovering this new class of RNA structures is like discovering a new type of fuel injection system, so we better optimize fuel-air mixture for power and efficiency. Perhaps it's like discovering a new type of rubber for our tires, for better traction and wear. Perhaps it's like discovering a new type of battery so we can all get cheap, quickly charging, long-range electrical cars.

But most likely it's not like any of those things, and we'll never really understand the implications of this discovery, because the people who really understand it didn't bother to give us the necessary car analogy.

Bastards.