Genome complexity: long non-coding RNA (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 15:51 (2781 days ago) @ David Turell

Long thought to be part of 'junk DNA' long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA)are found to have function in developing heart cells:-https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160908164948.htm-"Several years ago, biologists discovered a new type of genetic material known as long noncoding RNA. This RNA does not code for proteins and is copied from sections of the genome once believed to be "junk DNA." Now, in a related study, biologists have discovered how an enigmatic type of RNA helps to control cell fate. -"Several years ago, biologists discovered a new type of genetic material known as long noncoding RNA. This RNA does not code for proteins and is copied from sections of the genome once believed to be "junk DNA."-"Since then, scientists have found evidence that long noncoding RNA, or lncRNA, plays roles in many cellular processes, including guiding cell fate during embryonic development. However, it has been unknown exactly how lncRNA exerts this influence.-"Inspired by historical work showing that structure plays a role in the function of other classes of RNA such as transfer RNA, MIT biologists have now deciphered the structure of one type of lncRNA and used that information to figure out how it interacts with a cellular protein to control the development of heart muscle cells. This is one of first studies to link the structure of lncRNAs to their function.-
***-"In the new study, the researchers decided to investigate which regions of the 600-nucleotide RNA molecule are crucial to its function. "We knew Braveheart was critical for heart muscle cell development, but we didn't know the detailed molecular mechanism of how this lncRNA functioned, so we hypothesized that determining its structure could reveal new clues," Xue says.-***-"This analysis revealed that Braveheart has several distinct structural regions, or motifs. The researchers then tested which of these motifs were most important to the molecule's function. To their surprise, they found that removing 11 nucleotides, composing a loop that represents just 2 percent of the entire molecule, halted normal heart cell development.-"The researchers then searched for proteins that the Braveheart loop might interact with to control heart cell development. In a screen of about 10,000 proteins, they discovered that a transcription factor protein called cellular nucleic acid binding protein (CNBP) binds strongly to this region. Previous studies have shown that mutations in CNBP can lead to heart defects in mice and humans.-"This analysis revealed that Braveheart has several distinct structural regions, or motifs. The researchers then tested which of these motifs were most important to the molecule's function. To their surprise, they found that removing 11 nucleotides, composing a loop that represents just 2 percent of the entire molecule, halted normal heart cell development.-"The researchers then searched for proteins that the Braveheart loop might interact with to control heart cell development. In a screen of about 10,000 proteins, they discovered that a transcription factor protein called cellular nucleic acid binding protein (CNBP) binds strongly to this region. Previous studies have shown that mutations in CNBP can lead to heart defects in mice and humans."-Comment: This study again shows the enormous complexity in layers of control within DNA in cell development and raises the issue (once again) of how did a chance evolutionary process find the structure of lncRNA to perform this duty in heart cell development. Secondly a key argument used by Darwinists is that 'junk DNA' was 80% of all DNA. Therefore, it was developed by chance evolution, as discarded DNA, resulting from new advances that supplanted older forms. Obviously, junk DNA is a false premise, as 80% of DNA is found to be functional. Living organisms clearly show chance did not create life, God did.